Latouche Road fire put out after 28 hours of struggle; none injured

It took emergency services 12 fire engines making around 100 rounds over 28 hours to put out a raging fire that broke out at a four-storey building on Latouche Road in the city on Thursday morning. No injuries were reported in the incident, fire officials said.

The building, which housed a warehouse of electronic products, is located on congested lanes, which posed a big challenge for the fire department. The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

While fire officials said the establishment did not suffer any financial loss, the owner of the warehouse, Sanjay Jaiswal, said goods worth crores of rupees were gutted.

With dense smoke filling the area, firemen had to cover their faces with thick clothes as they continued their operation with the help of SDRF personnel.

The last of the flames could be extinguished only by Friday afternoon. The incident posed a safety concern even for people in nearby areas such as Hewett Road, Gautam Buddha Marg, Narirabad and Mawaiya.

“Congested lanes were the biggest problem that firemen had to struggle with. The building is blocked from all the sides by other establishments,” said Lucknow chief fire officer Mangesh Kumar.

Hazratganj fire safety officer Ramkumar Rawat said, “Fire vehicles and staff from nearby districts were sent to the spot as well. SDRF was also called to the spot for help. In the fire, decoration material for Diwali were gutted… it took about 28 hours to extinguish the fire and there was no financial loss [to the establishment].”