A fire, most likely sparked by an electrical short-circuit, spread rapidly through the labyrinthine corridors of Chandni Chowk Market on Tuesday afternoon, burning goods worth lakhs of rupees in seven shops before fire tenders put it out.

The extent of damage was small compared to the devastation wrought by a blaze in the same market 13 years ago, but the incident did remind everyone that fire-safety measures are not any better than they were then.

The flames were first seen on the roof of a hardware shop at 3 Chandni Chowk Market at 2.45pm. The fire is believed to have originated in the electrical meter box above that shop, located in the passage between gate numbers three and four.

“I heard people screaming outside. When I rushed out, I saw black fumes coming out from the roof of my shop. The shop next to mine was on fire, too,” said Satyaban Saha, the owner.

Surveying the debris, Saha said he may have lost goods worth at least Rs 50,000.

“The fire spread quickly. Flames enveloped the shops adjacent to the one where it started in no time,” said Nemai Mahapatra, the owner of a shop selling mattress foam.

The shops that suffered losses were those selling jute ropes, cots, tarpaulin, foam, cardboard, tin sheets, paint and naphtha.

Fire brigade officials said it was shocking that a market for inflammable goods like foam, plastic, plywood, paint and naphtha did not have any fire-fighting arrangements. “We are going to mention this in our report,” the divisional officer of West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services, Uday Adhikari, said.

The officer warned of another fire if the electrical wiring was not replaced. “It looks like a short-circuit caused the fire. We saw naked wires hanging everywhere. A major accident is waiting to happen.”

Traders in the market claimed the fire-safety measures were adequate. “We could not react to the blaze because it spread quickly,” they said.

The market has nine entry and exit points, all of them too narrow for a building that is always teeming with people. Goods stacked outside the shops make it difficult for people to walk in and out of the building, leave alone run in the event of an emergency. That nobody was injured on Tuesday can be attributed to luck.

As seven fire tenders battled the blaze for two hours, traffic was disrupted on Lenin Sarani, Madan Street and Esplanade.

The 1995 fire had occurred at night, leaving several shops gutted. There have been small fires since then, but Tuesday’s incident is said to be the closest the market has come to reliving that nightmare.