500 shops gutted in Delhi blaze, stone pelted at fire tenders over 'delayed' response

A massive fire gutted around 500 shops in Delhi's Shastri Park Furniture Market, causing lakhs of rupees in property losses and sparking allegations of a delayed fire response.

A massive fire gutted around 500 shops in the Shastri Park Furniture Market here on Friday night, triggering chaos as angry residents allegedly pelted stones at fire tenders over claims of a delayed response, officials said on Saturday.

Officials of the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) denied the allegations and said firefighting operations continued through the night.

No casualties were reported, though the blaze caused property losses worth lakhs of rupees, they said.

According to police, information regarding the fire at the furniture market near New Seelampur metro station was received at Shastri Park Police Station in northeast New Delhi around 11:56 pm on Friday.

Around 200 police staff immediately reached the spot and managed the crowd as multiple fire tenders carried out firefighting operations, they said.

The fire spread rapidly due to the presence of highly combustible material such as wooden furniture and plywood, a DFS official said.

The official said the DFS received information about the fire at 11:57 pm and fire tenders were dispatched immediately.

''The fire was later categorised as a medium category blaze. Wooden furniture and plywood were the main combustible materials at the site. Nearly 25-26 fire tenders were deployed to douse the fire,'' the official said.

At around 12:50 am, police assistance had to be sought after some members of the public hurled stones at firefighting teams during the operation, the official said.

Some locals claimed that the fire tenders reached the spot late, causing traders to suffer major financial losses ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.

''The fire broke out around 11:15 pm, and fire tenders arrived almost an hour later. We do not know how the fire started in the two shops. The entire market has been destroyed, and only 20 shops remain unscathed. Everyone has suffered huge losses ahead of the festival,'' a resident told PTI.

He claimed that he reached the spot about 45 minutes after the fire broke out, and by then, only two fire tenders had reached the market.

Police said a case under section 326(g) (mischief by fire or explosive substance) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been registered at Shastri Park police station, and the investigation is underway.

According to officials, the exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, and cooling operations are underway.