8 families evacuated as fire breaks out at VIP Road bank bldg

Kolkata: A fire broke out inside a nationalised bank’s branch, situated on the first floor of a four-storey building at Baguiati on VIP Road, on Wednesday morning. Bank officials were the first to notice the fire, when they opened the branch’s doors around 9am and called the fire department. Residents living on the upper floors rushed out of their homes as smoke engulfed the building.The fire was brought under control around 2pm by five fire tenders but firemen struggled to gain entry inside the bank because of thick smoke till late afternoon. None was injured and firemen said all residents in the building were safely evacuated. “The branch didn’t have any window, which could be broken and would have allowed quicker access for firemen. The branch was filled with wooden furniture, which kept the flames burning for long,” said a fire officer. He hinted that a possible short circuit could have caused the fire.Eight families living in flats on the upper two floors rushed down to safety when the fire started. “Our building was engulfed in thick smoke around 9.15am. We somehow alerted neighbours, took a narrow staircase and left our homes without any valuables,” said Paromita Bagui.Building residents switched off power supply before electricity officials disconnected the power line of the neighbourhood. TOI spoke to bank officials about details of the losses, but they were yet to finish assessing the damage.