An automobile spares and accessories store, belonging to one of Ranchi's first business families, was gutted in a fire that raged for nearly five hours from Sunday morning in one of the capital's many congested localities packed with wall-to-wall shops and houses.
While no one was injured in the mishap, whose trigger might have been a short circuit that fire officers are yet to confirm, goods worth around Rs 1 crore were reportedly reduced to cinders at five-decade-old National Traders on National Gali Court Road in the heart of the city.
Businessman Vishwanath Shabu owns National Traders and one of his employees, Umesh Kumar, first noticed smoke when he came to open the store around 10.30am.
"As soon as the shutter was raised, a thick cloud of smoke billowed out and it was followed by leaping flames within 10 minutes or so. It was scary... like an inferno. We quickly informed Kotwali police and the fire department," said Anil Jain who owns Arihant Tulko, a shop bang opposite National Traders.
The 200-metre-long and 20-feet-wide National Gali hosts around 40 small and big shops, 15 houses, two guesthouses and a temple, and has a population of 1,000.
Fire tenders darted to the scene in fleets of two from the fire stations in Dhurwa, Doranda and at Audrey House. However, even after 10 vehicles were pressed into service, the blaze was beyond control. As the fire ravenously engulfed the furnishing division of the 3,000sqft National Traders store, firefighters decided to evacuate the two upper storeys of the building as well as all adjoining houses and shops. Around 100 people were temporarily relocated to safer places as the blaze battle continued.
While National Traders is located on the ground floor of the affected building, Vishwanath's extended family occupies the two upper floors. His wife Santosh Shabu and other women and children of the family were among those trapped and evacuated.
When the water cannons failed to restrain the leaping flames, two foam tankers were called in. Although the foam spray helped contain the blaze around 1am, there was another flare-up within an hour. Finally, concerted efforts of firefighters, police jawans and local volunteers helped control the inferno around 3pm.
"National Traders was stocked with highly inflammable materials such as petroleum products, rubber tyres, foam and plastic wares among other things. The furnishing unit of the store caught fire. We are trying to ascertain how. It was one of the major fires in Ranchi's recent history. The approach road was narrow and the area is densely populated. We had had to vacate homes and business establishments fearing a failed control line (read spreading of fire)," said a fireman.
Raunak Shabu, the elder son of Vishwanath Shabu, called it bad luck. "We have suffered heavy losses. The estimated damage will touch a crore," he said, recalling how their shop had had a phoenix moment in 1998. "My uncle Purushottam Shabu's adjoining shop (National Furniture) had caught fire that year and ours was partly gutted. We had resurrected business from almost scratch then. Now, we are back to where we started," Raunak added.
The Shabus are among the oldest business families in the capital who, according to residents, settled in Ranchi a century ago. They became the biggest supplier of rickshaws - National Rickshaw - across Jharkhand. Vishwanath's father Ramgopal Shabu and uncle Narayan Shabu further extended business, and made forays into the automobile spares sector. In fact, the road is also named after their brand.
State fire officer Mahanand Singh said they suspected a short circuit. "I will inspect the site tomorrow (Monday) and confirm," he added.
Kotwali police station in-charge Arvind Kumar Sinha said fire officials were trying to ascertain what triggered the mishap, which could have been fatal had it been night time.
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