Kolhapur: Fire broke out in a house behind the Navshya Maruti Mandir in Shahunagar, Rajarampuri on Tuesday, January 6. According to reports, fire broke out around 10:30 am and gutted the house reportedly due to a short circuit and a gas cylinder explosion. A fire caused an estimated loss of Rs 15 lakh, including Rs 2.5 lakh in cash and household goods, but firefighters prevented a major disaster by extinguishing the blaze in a densely packed residential street after two hours.
Rashid Syed, who works at the garbage project in Kasba Bawda, lives in a house in Shahunagar with his wife Reshma, son Ramzan and sister-in-law Sainaz. As usual, the Syed couple had gone to work at the garbage project on Tuesday morning. Around 10:15 am, his sister-in-law had gone to drop her child off to school. Around 10:30 am, smoke started coming out of their house.
As soon as Syed's sister and nephew, who lived next door came to know about the fire, they broke down the door. They discovered a flumes fueled by clothes and plastic sheets, the fire rapidly engulfed the house. Fire brigade vehicles arrived within 8-10 minutes of being alerted. Firefighters and local youths battled the blaze for two hours before extinguishing it.
Unfortunately, Rs 2.5 lakhs in cash, the Syed couple's savings from their salaries, was destroyed. The fire also consumed clothes, household items, a TV, and cupboards. A gas cylinder explosion blew off the roof. Rajarampuri police reported the fire, which firefighters attributed to a short circuit igniting the gas cylinder, caused approximately Rs 15 lakhs in damages.
Firefighters Jaywant Khot, Vijay Sutar, Nitesh Shingare, Ashish Mali, Sangram More, Praveen Brahmadande, Anil Bagul, Vishal Chougule, drivers Umesh Jagtap, Ramzan Patel, and Ashok Sathe extinguished a fire in a tightly packed residential lane within two hours, preventing it from spreading to nearby houses.
Three fire engines, two tankers, and an ambulance were deployed. The rapid escalation of the fire caused panic, prompting residents to flee and some youths to remove gas cylinders from adjacent homes. The Syed couple, whose house was ablaze, were distraught.