A fire broke out in an apartment on the top floor of a five-storey residential building off James Long Sarani in Behala on Sunday afternoon.

The building was evacuated. Four tenders doused the flames, police said.

Traffic on James Long Sarani was disrupted for more than half an hour as fire tenders rushed to the apartment located close to the crossing of Banamali Ghosal Lane and James Long Sarani.

Residents of the top-floor flat of Urvashi Apartment waited on the road below as thick black smoke was seen coming out of the windows. People in the neighbourhood said the same family occupies two flats on the top floor. The fire broke out in one of them.

“An electrical short circuit is suspected to have caused the fire,” said a fire department officer.

The official said the false ceiling of the apartment aggravated the fire.

The fire on the fourth floor comes just days after the fire at Rituraj Hotel on Tuesday night that claimed 14 lives in Jorasanko.

The fire at the five-storey building in Jorasanko’s Mechua spread from the first floor. The hotel was operating with a lapsed fire license.

The fire triggered the state to carry out checks at all the hotels, bars and restaurants looking for fire violations.