A fire broke out on Wednesday at Chennai Silks which is a leading textile showroom in Usman Road, T. Nagar. It is the commercial hub of the city.
Ten people were rescued from the building, and as per the report, nobody was injured in the fire. However, the cloth materials worth lakhs of rupees was destroyed in the fire.
A security guard who saw the smoke emanating from the ground floor alerted fire personnel at around 4:30 A.M. Fire tenders from T. Nagar, Egmore, Kilpauk and other places rushed to the spot.
Smoke kept emanating from all the seven floors of the building. Efforts were taken to extinguish the flames. More than 70 Fire and Rescue service personnel were battling the conflagration.
K. Shankar, Additional Commissioner said, “We should be able to put out the fire a little after noon. The building is now safe though and the surrounding area has been cleared for safety. All the shops and buildings around the Chennai Silks building have been shut.”
A Firemen said that the fire could have been caused by an electric short circuit. However, the exact reason is yet to be figured out.
The police said there were cracks in the building.
The people in the area suffered from eye irritation and breathlessness due to the thick smoke.
The traffic in and around T. Nagar and Panagal Park was affected because of the incident. Efforts were taken to divert the traffic.
Chennai City Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan and the fire services DGP S. George visited the spot.
