Fire at Behala auditorium

A spark from a welding machine at an auditorium under repair in Behala caused a blaze on the first-floor backstage balcony stashed with inflammable materials on Tuesday.

Officers said firefighting started late because an underground water reservoir in the building, maintained by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, was empty. They said the auditorium was stashed with inflammable materials.

Sarat Sadan shares the premises with the bustling Manton Supermarket on Diamond Harbour Road. Witnesses said the blaze started between 3.30pm and 3.40pm. The thick black smoke and leaping flames from the auditorium prompted shop owners to rush out to the main road in panic.

“The heat was unbearable,” said Nupur Bhattacharjee, who works as a saleswoman in a ground-floor shop. “The air was scorching and it felt as if my skin would be burnt. It looked like the blaze would engulf the market, too.”

Six fire-tenders took 90 minutes to bring the blaze under control. The firemen said the place was stashed with inflammable materials such as wooden panels, plywood and fibre sheets, disused furniture and bamboo poles.

Fire officers said they had to get water from fire stations in Behala, Garden Reach and Kalighat because of the empty water reservoir.

An officer said the “clumsy manner” in which the renovation was being carried out inside a CMC undertaking was shocking. “The place should have been cleared of all inflammable materials before welding started. And what’s the point of having an empty reservoir?”

Divisional fire officer Achintya Mukherjee said: “Despite the delay because of the unavailability of water from the reservoir, we managed to contain the fire to the portion it had originated.”

“The extent of loss is not yet known,” said mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who visited the auditorium in the evening. Cabinet minister Partha Chatterjee, too, went to the spot.

Traffic on Diamond Harbour Road was affected for 30 minutes following the blaze.