A fire broke out in a residential building in a congested north Calcutta neighbourhood on Friday morning.

Police said a woman escaped with a burns in her hand that did not need admission to hospital.

The fire was reported from the first floor of a two-storey building with a tin roof on Ramdulal Sarkar Street in the Girish Park area around 8.45am.

Five fire tenders were pressed into action.

The injured woman was identified as Rukmini Devi, 40. She was treated at the Medical College and Hospital Kolkata.

“I was sleeping at home when I heard a hue and cry outside. I saw thick smoke coming from the first floor of the building two blocks away,” a resident of the area, Sourav Chatterjee, said on Friday afternoon.

The police said two families reside on the first floor of the building where the fire started. Rukmini Devi, her husband Girish Adak and their daughter live in one of the establishments, while another was occupied by a man.

“There was no one on the first floor when the fire was reported. We have learned from eyewitnesses that Rukmini Devi and her daughter were trying to go upstairs to check their home. There was a cylinder blast inside their house. Rukmini Devi’s right hand suffered burn injuries,” said an officer of Girish Park police station.

Hearing the explosion, neighbours put their LPG cylinders outside their homes to prevent any accident.

“All the families in this lane put their cylinders outside the buildings fearing there could be similar explosions in case the fire spread,” said neighbour Anirban Ghosh.

Five fire tenders were pressed into action to douse the flames. The first floor of the building was completely gutted.

Fire department officials said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

“It could be a leakage in the LPG cylinder but the actual cause can be confirmed
only after forensic examination of the spot,” said a senior official of the state fire and emergency services department.