Restaurant, warehouse and house gutted in Porvorim, Calangute and Mapusa; no injuries reported
The destroyed ‘Gharan’ restaurant near the Sai Service circle in Porvorim.
PORVORIM/MAPUSA
Exactly a month after the devastating fire at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora which claimed 25 lives on December 6, three major fires in Bardez within seven hours on Tuesday destroyed a restaurant in Porvorim, a warehouse on the third floor of a building under construction in Calangute and one floor of a house in Mapusa.
No injuries reported in either of these three incidents.
PORVORIM
The first blaze broke out shortly at about 4.30 am at the ‘Gharan’ restaurant near the Sai Service circle in Porvorim.
According to sources, CCTV footage revealed that the fire was caused by a rat pulling down a lamp. The restaurant had an eco-friendly construction using wood and coconut palms, which caused the fire to spread rapidly.
A fire brigade from the Porvorim Fire Station went to the site and on realising that one fire tender would not be sufficient to extinguish the fire, an additional fire tender from the Panaji fire headquarters was pressed into service.
Fire-fighters also moved quickly to remove 11 LPG cylinders from the premises, thereby preventing a possible explosion and causing the fire from escalating further.
“Had the cylinders not been removed in time, the situation could have turned far more dangerous,” a fire official told The Goan, describing the operation as averting a major hazard.The restaurant, largely constructed of wood, posed additional challenges for fire-fighters.
It took almost two hours for the fire personnel to extinguish the fire, which destroyed restaurant equipment, chairs, table, fans, etc.
Fortunately, there were no employees in the restaurant at the time of the incident.
Initially, the restaurant owners had suspected foul play in the incident. However, when the police examined CCTV footage that survived the incident, it was found that a lamp was burning in the restaurant’s prayer room. A rat knocked over the lamp and dragged it away, causing the prayer room to catch fire first and the flames spread to other parts of the restaurant. The electrical box then caught fire and after that, the CCTV cameras stopped working. The damage to property is estimated at Rs 45 lakh.
Director of Fire Services Nitin V Raiker later visited the site to take stock of the damages, while Porvorim PI Rahul Parab also visited the site to conduct the panchanama.
CALANGUTE
Barely two hours later, around 6.50 am, another major fire was reported in Naikawaddo-Calangute. This time, the blaze broke out at the warehouse on the third floor of a six-storey hotel under construction.
Fire tenders from Porvorim, Pilerne and Mapusa rushed to the site to contain the flames.
Fire officials said the presence of tarpaulin sheets and other combustible materials stored in a room intensified the fire. Despite the scale of the blaze, no casualties were fortunately reported.
It is suspected that the fire was caused by a short circuit. All materials in the warehouse were destroyed in the fire. This included paint, wood and other items, resulting in an estimated loss of Rs 10 lakh.
MAPUSA
The third incident occurred at around 11.30 am in Khorlim-Mapusa, when a fire broke out due to a short circuit on the second floor of the house belonging to Pramod Karpe.
The Karpe family was on the ground floor at the time of the incident. When neighbours noticed smoke billowing from the roof, they alerted the Karpe family. Fire-fighters from the Mapusa fire station later extinguished the fire. The estimated loss in this incident is Rs 1.5 lakh.
