Blaze at East Delhi Parking: 16 Cars Gutted

A fire at a civic authority-run parking lot in East Delhi's Madhu Vihar area destroyed 16 cars early Wednesday morning. Firefighters and police managed to save over 100 other vehicles. No injuries were reported, and investigation into the cause is ongoing. Officials suggest negligence as a possible reason.

Sixteen cars were gutted by a fire that broke out at a civic authority-run parking lot in east Delhi's Madhu Vihar area on Wednesday, officials said. No one was injured in the incident. More than 100 cars were parked in the facility, but timely action by the police and fire department saved the rest of the vehicles, Deputy Commissioner of Police (east) Apoorva Gupta said.

The incident was reported at 1.17 am. Nine fire tenders were pressed into service and they controlled the blaze in four hours, an official from Delhi Fire Service (DFS) said.

A case has been registered in the incident and investigations are underway, police said. The cars belonged to the locals who used to park their vehicles in the parking lot on rent basis, the officials said.

Earlier, the officials said that 17 cars were gutted but Madhu Vihar SHO Rajesh Sinha later confirmed that 16 vehicles were damaged in the fire.

''Some vehicles were damaged but we managed to save the rest. There were no injuries in the incident,'' DFS officer Yashwant Meena said.

According to a police officer, it is suspected that the incident could be a result of some fire in the bushes in the area. ''The parking facility is close to Delhi Jal Board office. Total 16 four-wheeler vehicles, which were parked in the parking lot, got damaged in the incident. Remaining vehicles were prevented from being damaged,'' DCP Gupta said.

She further said that there is was no loss to the human. So far, the reason for the fire has not been established.

''Crime team was called at the spot for inspection. An FIR has been registered under sections 285 and 336 of the IPC and investigation has been taken up,'' the DCP said.

''Our teams acted promptly after the emergency call. Our priority was to save lives,'' the officer said.

The fire brigade team also reached the spot and quickly swung into action, he said. ''While one tender started sprinkling water on the cars that did not catch fire, the other started dousing the flames.'' In another incident, five shops were damaged in a fire that broke out in north Delhi's Chandni Chowk area on Wednesday, officials said.

According to a DFS official, a call regarding the blaze near Fatehpuri Masjid was received at 3.12 am and eight fire tenders were pressed into service.

The fire was doused by 5 am, he said.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor in a statement accused the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) of negligence in the Madhu Vihar parking lot fire incident, saying the incident occurred because the facility did not have basic fire-fighting equipment.

Kapoor said the MCD should compensate the owners of the vehicles that got damaged in the blaze.

He also said that immediate instructions should be given to all parking contractors to install basic fire-fighting equipment to avoid any safety hazards amid the severe heatwave in the city.

The MCD released a statement in connection with the incident after conducting an inspection of the site. ''The fire incident took place at the end of parking site which is close to a wide and deep drain. During the course of the inspection, prima facie it appeared that some passerby on the footpath may have thrown bud of burning cigarette/'bidi' into the dry drain which caused fire in the dry leaves and foliage of the drain. Due to scorching heat, the fire reached the boundary of the parking site,'' the statement said.

According to the MCD, as a consequence, fire engulfed the rear portion of a few cars which further spread causing damage to nearby vehicles.

''The parking staff at the site had immediately informed the Delhi Fire Service upon seeing the fire. Also, without wasting any time for the fire service personnel to reach at the spot, the parking staff immediately tried to extinguish fire with the help of fire extinguisher available at the parking site as well as with stored water. The fire was controlled upon the arrival of fire service personnel,'' the statement said.