A fire broke out in a godown stacked with electrical items on RK Chatterjee Road in Kasba, spreading panic among residents in the congested locality.

Three fire tenders took over an hour to control the blaze. Police have started a case against the owner, Tarak Dutta.

The godown — used for storing pedestal fans, generators, wires and plugs — has been sealed.

Residents said they spotted thick black fumes coming out of the godown, located on a small plot next to a pond and surrounded by highrises, around 10am.

Some youths swung into action, trying to douse the flames with water fetched from the pond. Others alerted the fire services department.

“Two youths had opened the godown and set wires on fire outside. They do that almost every day to extract copper from the wires. It appears a spark from the fire had landed inside the godown,” an officer of Kasba police station said.

Within minutes, the godown was engulfed in flames.

A number of residents said they had been protesting for some time against the practice of setting fire to cables outside the godown.

Fire operators said the lone generator inside the godown did not have any fuel.

“Had the generator contained fuel, the blaze would have been uncontrollable,” a fire-fighter said.

Anandapur fire

A fire broke out at a plastic godown in Anandapur’s Chowbagha on the southern fringe of the city on Friday around 9.30pm, reports PTI.

Four fire tenders were rushed to the spot.

“The situation is under control but we are trying

to douse the fire so it does

not spread further,” police said.

No one was trapped or injured.