Of the 14 persons injured in the blaze that gutted a makeshift firecracker market set up for Diwali on the outskirts of Mathura city, eight remained in a serious condition a day after the incident, an official said on Monday.
A fireman was among those who sustained injuries in the fire that gutted seven shops and 10 motorcycles in Gopalbagh at Raya on Sunday afternoon.
All eight persons in serious condition were referred to SN Medical College in Agra. No deaths have been reported in the incident.
Chandrashekhar, a 30-year-old fireman who was present at the spot and sustained burn injuries, on Monday told PTI, "I was drinking water when I heard a cry about a fire. I immediately took the fire extinguisher and started extinguishing the flames when I saw an elderly person and a girl trapped, so I rescued them and then went back to extinguishing the fire again.” “When the fire extinguishers were consumed, I started using water stored in a drum to extinguish the fire. I used 3-4 fire extinguishers,” he said.
He said that seven shops had caught fire, and he also sustained burn injuries after which he was hospitalised for 5-6 hours.
Lauding Chandrashekhar’s actions, Mathura Chief Fire Officer Narendra Pratap Singh said his courage averted several casualties.
"Fireman Chandrashekhar rushed to the spot as soon as he got the news of the fire incident. Local residents said that he had displayed tremendous courage. Had he not been there, there would have been 10-15 casualties. There was a huge crowd of customers at the ground,” the CFO said.
He also said that among the injured persons, there was a 10-year-old girl as well, and she was sent to Agra for treatment. “There have been no loss of life in the incident so far,” he said.
Three fire tenders were pressed into service, and they took 45 minutes to douse the flames, the CFO said, and added that of the 23 firecrackers shops, seven were affected by the fire.
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