Kochi: A major fire broke out at the regional office of the Bank of Baroda at TD Road here on Thursday morning. Though there was no one in the office at the time, the inferno caused a loss, estimated to be Rs 20 lakh. According to Fire and Rescue officials, the blaze was first noticed by a passerby at 7 am. “We got a call and five fire tenders including a water browser from Club Road and Gandhi Nagar stations were deployed. However, it took us nearly two hours to douse the flames. Luckily there was no one in the building,” a Fire Safety official said.
The fire officials initially found it difficult to enter the building as thick smoke and flames started emanating from it. By then, a major portion of the building’s ground floor had been gutted and several electronic gadgets including 18 computers were completely destroyed in the inferno.
“As the building was closed, we broke open its glass door but the thick plumes of smoke inside made the rescue operations difficult initially. The situation would have been different had the flames spread to the nearby plywood shop in the adjacent building,” the official said. The loss in the fire mishap is estimated to be nearly Rs 20 lakh. A primary probe pointed towards a short circuit as the cause of the fire. KSEB officials also visited the spot to ascertain the source of flames.
