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The Mehta building, a landmark in the burrabazar market caught fire on Tuesday, June 3, 2008. For few hours it seemed like the Nandaram January 100 hour disaster. The five storey building did not have a single fire extinguisher. It is believed that the fire was fuelled by spirit stored illegally in the building. The Mehta building, located on the crowded Canning Street, houses ten families apart from 683 shops.
Debapriya Biswas, ADG fire services, revealed that complaints will be lodged against the owners of the shop and the building, as spirit was stored without the permission from the Fire Department and there was no firefighting system in the building. It took more than four hours to put off the fire. Twenty two fire tenders and two hydraulic ladders were sent immediately to battle the intense heat and smoke and put out the fire. The fire tenders faced difficulty in reaching the spot as it is an immensely congested area. Though no casualty was reported in the fire, a large portion of the building and goods worth lakhs were destroyed.
