Shivlal Bajaj, 75, had a close shave on Sunday. In the city visiting son-in-law T.K. Arora and daughter Kavita, residents of 10-storeyed Kundalia Tower, at 47 A, Shakespeare Sarani, Bajaj was one of the six people rescued by firemen after the building’s main electrical meter-box on the ground floor caught fire around 1.30 pm.

Senior fire brigade officers said the safety equipment of the building were inadequate and not functioning . CESC officers said the fire could have resulted from an electrical overload, since residents were using too many cooling devices to beat the heat. All residents were evacuated and the fire was brought under control after 4 pm.

“The fire escape was locked and, thus, could not be used,” said West Bengal Fire Services deputy director D.P. Biswas, adding: “We used five fire-engines and a hydrant platform, though the driveway to the building was not adequately spaced to set up the platform. We rescued six persons, including two children and two elderly persons.”

A CESC officer said the fire had started from one of the consumer lines. “From what we have seen in the meter-box room, it is evident that the problem occurred because the power supply system could not support the consumption load. This can happen for many reasons, but it seems that overload is the cause. People have installed four air-conditioners, though there are provisions for only two,” he said.

“An electrical short-circuit or overload, or both, could have sparked off the fire; we are not sure. The open duct above the meter-box room facilitated the quick spread of smoke and flames to the top floors of the building, affecting residents. The fire spread up to the 10th floor through the cables. Preventive and safety measures in the building were not adequate. There was a series of deficiencies. A complaint will be filed against the maintenance personnel of the building,” Biswas said.

Initially, residents had not realised that a fire had broken out on the ground floor. “We didn’t think anything was wrong when the lights went out. We thought it was load-shedding. But when the generator was not started even after 10 minutes, we got a little fidgety. Only when we peered out of a window did we see the thick smoke coming out of the ground floor,” said Meenakshi Thard, a resident of the seventh floor.

First the police were informed at around 2.40 pm, and then the fire brigade. Shakespeare Sarani from the AJC Bose Road intersection was cordoned off, and all vehicular traffic had to be diverted. “We are not ruling out sabotage and negligence as possibilities,” said assistant commissioner of police Brajeswar Bhattacharya.