Ahmedabad: A fire broke out in a high-rise commercial cum residential building in front of the Himalaya mall in Vastrapur area of the city this afternoon.

Additional Chief Fire officer Rajesh Bhatt said that the fire broke out in the showroom cum godown of a tyre shop in the block A of Shreeji towers building situated in front of Himalaya mall on the opposite side of the drive in road. The reason behind the fire was not yet known.

The call about the incident was received at 13.51 hrs at the AMC fire control room and more than 10 vehicles were rushed immediately.

‘ Our fire fighters rescued safely around 60 to 70 people trapped on upper floors of the around 10 storied building as the dense smoke due to burning of tyres started building up and causing panic. Most of those on the lower floors came out safely at their own,’ Bhatt said.

There were no reports of casualty. The fire fight operation continued for more than an hour.

According to Chief Fire Officer Dastoor, the shop where fire originated had no fire safety provisions including sprinklers. He said a hole was created in lift block to allow smoke to come out from there. He said foam was being used to fill the chamber where fire took place. He said the shop will be sealed for breach of fire safety norms.

Road connecting Gurukul to Himalaya mall was closed for traffic during fire operation.

DeshGujarat