A fire broke out on the first floor of the 11-storey Haute Street Corporate Park off Topsia on Monday morning, forcing the evacuation of hundreds who work in offices in the building.
No one was trapped or injured. The fire system of the building was operational, said officials of the fire services department.
The fire was reported around 11am from a small godown on the first floor, police said.
Following the fire alert, the offices and commercial establishments across all the floors were asked to evacuate the building.
Gaurav Karnani, owner of Grid, a microbrewery on the ground floor, said he was in his office on the first floor when he received a call from the building manager informing him that there was a fire. The fire department had been alerted, he was told.
“The fire broke out on the floor where my office is located. I received a call from the building manager. After that, we evacuated the building. The sprinkler, hydrant and fire alarm were operational,” Karnani said.
Six fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames in the building on Seal Lane, which is dotted with residential and commercial establishments.
The fire was contained within the next few hours before it could spread to a larger portion of the building, said fire services department officials.
Thick black smoke had spread around the building, making it visible from the Parama flyover.
The Vishwakarma Building is located next to the Haute Street Corporate Park. However, traffic on the EM Bypass-Park Circus Connector was not disrupted because the affected building’s entrance is on a bylane, the police said.
The cause of the fire has yet to be ascertained, the police said.
The forensic examination of the spot will be conducted after the floor cools, the cops said.
The fire was reported hours after a blaze in a room of a hotel on Sarat Bose Road, which was caused by an AC short-circuit.