Four furniture showrooms gutted in UP's Saharanpur; no casualties reported

Saharanpur: Four furniture showrooms were gutted amid a blaze triggered due to a short circuit on Wednesday morning, triggering panic in the area, police said.No casualties were reported in the incident. However, the blaze destroyed goods worth lakhs of rupees, an official said.The fire broke out around 6.30 am at Ganga Furniture showroom located in the furniture market on Dehradun Road in the Khanalampura area and quickly spread to the upper portions of three adjoining establishments, Shakti Furniture, Aman Furniture and Naman Furniture, officials said.Thick black smoke and flames engulfed the area, creating panic among residents living behind the market. Some residents started moving cooking gas cylinders and valuables out of their homes, fearing the blaze could spread further.Eight fire tenders were rushed to the spot and firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control after nearly three hours of efforts, police said.Janakpuri police station in-charge Nem Chand Singh told PTI that furniture owners and local residents opened the shutters of the ground-floor showrooms and shifted furniture kept for sale onto the road to prevent it from being destroyed in the fire.He said the upper floors, where furniture manufacturing work was carried out, suffered extensive damage as wood, rexine, jute and other chemicals stored there fuelled the flames.The police are investigating the exact cause of the fire, but prima facie it appears to have been triggered by a short circuit, Singh said.