After a 30-hour intense operation, firefighters battling a massive fire that engulfed Surat’s Shiv Shakti textile market brought the fire under control using 30 fire tenders. The market, which is almost halfway alight, destroyed nearly half the shops in the market. Police officials have reported that so far, no casualties have been reported.
The incident was the second fire at the market in less than 24 hours. Large quantities of textile stock stored in the basement were the cause for the initial fire to break out on Tuesday morning. After several hours, firefighters were able to contain it, but the flames reignited Wednesday morning and blazed through the four-story building. The water that was used to put out the inferno was said to be about 45 lakh litres.
The fire has done its damage; over 450 out of 850 shops were seriously damaged. It is a major textile market, with about 5,000 workers, they are now uncertain if they are going to keep their livelihood.
However, authorities have also raised safety violations and concerns with the market. The situation was worsened when officials revealed that there were unauthorized textile shop encroachment inside the parking area. Now, the administration is reviewing this irregularity and examining whether negligence was involved in the incident.
Firefighters have contained the flames but are still curbing an increase with cooling operations. It left business owners and workers assessing the damage and waiting for authorities to determine the next steps. The incident further underscores the fact that Surat’s bustling textile markets, where there are a lot of flammable materials, urgently need some better fire safety measures.
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