Over 500 Shops Charred As Hafeez Centre in Lahore Catch Fire

LAHORE: News of fires in shopping malls, factories and public transport has become a daily feature. These fires cause loss of millions of rupees in addition to human lives. In Pakistani markets, shops are often not insured, making it impossible for the owners to bear the losses. Usually people invest all their savings in these business and their livelihood majorly depend on them. Actually, the fire does not burn their business but their lives. 

A similar incident took place yesterday at the Hafeez Center, a popular electronic market in Lahore. Where the fire engulfed the objects worth crores of rupees.

The blaze burnt more than 500 shops housed with electronic items, signifying the absence of an inactive firefighting system in the main commercial market housing over 1,000 shops.

No casualty was reported in the incident apart from the heavy financial loss traders faced.

The fire erupted during the wee hours of Sunday and engulfed almost the entire plaza. The fire was so intense that dark clouds of smoke hovered the surroundings.

The people present in some warehouses and shops for receiving consignments were trapped inside and evacuated to the building roof to save their lives. The rescue teams rushed there as they claimed of receiving the response call at nearly 6 am and initiated the fire extinguishing operation. Some 25 people were rescued timely as they had evacuated atop.

A total of 25 fire vehicles, three special vehicles and over 70 rescuers participated in the operation.
As the blaze spread, dozens of condensers in the split air-conditioners (ACs) exploded and the area resonated with the sounds of intermittent blasts.

Rescue 1122 officials said that they received the fire call around 6 am while the reason behind the fire has been reported to be a short circuit.

The fire in the main commercial market of Lahore has revealed the absence of a fire safety system in the business centre.

The shopkeepers said that the fire engulfed almost the entire building as the shops were filled up with highly inflammable electronic equipment.

Rescue 1122 DG Dr Rizwan claimed his teams responded to the emergency call in time.
Meanwhile, the traders’ bodies of the market blamed Rescue 1122 for starting the extinguishing operation late.
The businessmen have reported the loss to be massive and ‘bigger than their expectations.’

Rescue 1122 DG said that the building’s firefighting system was inoperative or else the damage could have been curtailed to a large extent.

He added that the blaze engulfed the third, fourth and fifth floors of the multi-storey building filled with paint material, laptops, computers, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, and other electronic equipment.
The fire was completely put out until Sunday evening followed by the cooling process.