PESHAWAR: A fire broke out in the Nauthia Phattak area on Saturday morning, destroying at least 80 shops mostly selling used goods and injuring three people.

Rescue 1122 officials said the fire started in a small makeshift structure alongside the railway line, spreading to nearby shops and engulfing wooden cabins and a power transformer.

They said power cables also caught fire, affecting the nearby markets.

Officials of the district administration said a probe was underway to ascertain the cause of the incident.

They also said they’re assessing the damage with the help of the trader body’s members.

The officials said the fire erupted around 10:00am at one of the makeshift structures before engulfing the adjacent shops, which mostly dealt in secondhand clothes, shoes and curtains, and a power transformer.

Rescue officials said in a joint operation, Rescue 1122 workers and firefighters from Peshawar, Nowshera, Khyber and Charsadda districts controlled the fire in six hours with around 80,000 litres of water and foam.

Around 110 personnel took part in the operation with four being shifted to a nearby hospital due to health issues, according to a statement of Rescue 1122.

It added that the wooden cabins caught fire due to strong winds.

“The fire engulfed three markets. It was controlled after five hours but it broke out again,” Rescue 1122 said, adding that firefighters were called in again.

It said that a total of 15 fire vehicles, 110 personnel and three ambulances took part in the operation. However, no loss of life was reported, according to it.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur took notice of the incident and sought a detailed report about it from authorities.

The chief minister directed the relevant officials to carry out an inquiry to ascertain the reason for the fire, according to an official statement. “Negligence won’t be tolerated,” he said in the statement.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2024