Major fire at gym in Gomtinagar Extension, all equipment gutted

Lucknow: A major fire broke out at a gym in Gomtinagar Extension on Wednesday afternoon gutting equipment worth lakhs. However, there were no casualties as the gym was closed at the time of the incident.Chief fire officer Mangesh Kumar said a short circuit led to the fire in the gym in Kharagpur locality around 2pm. Locals informed the fire brigade after seeing smoke billowing out of the gym. By the time the fire brigade reached the scene, the entire gym was engulfed in flames. A huge crowd gathered at the spot during the ongoing fire extinguishing work leading to jam-like situation on the road. Eyewitnesses said the fire was so fierce that the flames and smoke were visible up to 2km away. In a separate incident on Tuesday night, a moving car caught fire in front of the Summit Building. As per eyewitnesses, the car suddenly burst into flames and the driver saved his life by jumping out in the nick of time. The fire brigade controlled the fire within 15 minutes. However, the car was completely burnt. Eyewitnesses said while the car was burning, they heard sounds of intermittent blasts. The burning car caused a long traffic jam on both sides of the road. A policeman said the car caught fire after it got overheated. Car owner, Ashutosh Upadhyay, said: "I was going to meet a friend in Chinhat. The car got overheated near Summit Building. First, smoke came out from the car's bonnet. After that, flames started coming out. I parked the car on the side, opened the gate, and jumped out. After this, I informed the police," he said.The car debris was removed from the road with the help of a crane.