Seven shops, several vehicles reduced to ashes in massive fire near Dewas Naka

Indore: More than seven shops were charred in a major fire near Dewas Naka early on Wednesday morning. The blaze is believed to have erupted in one of the shops due to short circuit and quickly spread to neighbouring shops.Around 4:20am local residents spotted flames in the shops and immediately alerted the fire brigade. The close proximity of the shops contributed to the swift spread of the flames. Preliminary estimates suggest that the financial losses could be lakhs of rupees.Two fire engines arrived at the scene, but till then the inferno had already consumed all the seven shops and more than a dozen two-wheelers parked in one of the garages, making the containment work difficult. It took over four hours of efforts to control the blaze, locals said. Fire brigade sub-inspector Sushil Dubey said that the fire erupted in Tulsi Nagar area, gutting two hardware stores, a sweet shop, a pooja material shop, an auto garage, an aluminium section store, and a pizza outlet. The initial cause is believed to be a short circuit. The fire consumed wooden material, doors, machinery, refrigerators, bikes, and electrical equipment inside the shops. Firefighters used more than nine water tankers to bring the blaze under control.Dubey mentioned that all the affected shops were tin-shed structures packed with goods, making the fire spread rapidly. According to the fire team, the destroyed establishments include Indore Enterprises owned by Ashwin Gupta, a hardware shop belonging to Prakash Gupta, Sanwariya Sweets and Dairy owned by Mehrban Singh, Shri Ji Pooja Samagri Store operated by Keshav and Seema, Om Sai Ram Auto Parts and Sarvaiya Garage run by Rahul, Mahakal Fabrication owned by Rahul Vishwakarma, and Wow Pizza operated by Bobby.