QUEPEM: Two shops in a three-storey building, opposite the newly constructed Quepem market complex, were gutted on Saturday night.
The fire broke at around 10.30pm in the shop selling gift items. The fire was the result of an electrical short circuit. The adjacent garment shop too was gutted.
Residents in the building immediately evacuated their flats after hearing continuous blast. The blast, they said, occurred due to the storage of items such as body spray cans, sanitizer bottles and other inflammable liquid.
“When I heard the continuous blasts below my flat, I came down to see what was wrong. That’s when I noticed smoke emitting out of the shops. We immediately alerted the residents and told them to evacuate their flats and informed the fire service,” a resident, Pratisha Naik, said.
Another resident, Onita Goes, said, “I noticed that the floor of the flat had become very hot. Then we were informed about the fire.”
Fire tender from Curchorem fire station reached the incident site with two water tankers and succeeded in extinguishing the fire.
The electricity department temporarily shut down both transformers in the vicinity as a safety precaution.
Quepem police have conducted panchanama of both shops. According to the shop owners, the estimated loss is worth nearly Rs 30 lakh. Neither of the shops were insured.
