Chandigarh:
As many as 30 shops were gutted after a major fire broke out in a furniture market, officials said.
The fire broke out at the market located near Sector-53 on the Chandigarh-Mohali border late last night and it took six hours for the 19 fire tenders pressed into the operation to control the flames, they said.
The fire began from the central portion in one of the shop rows and spread along both sides of the road, Chandigarh's Station Fire Officer, M L Sharma said.
"The fire spread quickly to other shops and we had to struggle to prevent it from spreading further as a lot of combustible material like thinner, kerosene, paint, clothing material, foam mattresses were stored in the shops," he said.
Eleven fire tenders were pressed into service by the Chandigarh Fire Department, while six by neighbouring Mohali and Panchkula and two were provided by the Air Force Station at Chandigarh.