A family of four sleeping in a smoke-choked flat in Avantika Colony was pulled to safety in the early hours of Tuesday, but their three pet dogs died. This incident marks the city's third flat fire in barely a month.
Fire Breaks Out in Avantika Phase 2
The fire broke out around 3 am in flat number 202 at SK Homes in Avantika Phase 2. Chief fire officer Rahul Pal said Kotwali fire station received a call about people trapped inside and immediately sent two fire tenders from Kotwali Ghantaghar, more than 8 km away.
While the teams were on their way, the trapped family was guided over the phone and told to stay in a balcony until help arrived. By 3:20 am, firefighters reached the four-storey building and found the residents — Pawan Sharma (52), his wife (46), their son (20) and daughter (18) — standing in a roadside balcony, disoriented and surrounded by smoke pouring out from inside the flat.
Rescue Operation
“An extension ladder was deployed first, and all four were brought down safely,” Pal said. Firefighters then stretched hose lines from both the ladder side and the staircase and began pumping water from both tenders. “The main door had to be broken open because the fire was most intense there and in the drawing room. We suspect an electrical short circuit in that area, which blocked the family’s escape route,” he added.
The blaze was eventually put out in the kitchen, storeroom, drawing room and one bedroom. During a search of the flat, firefighters found the family’s three pet dogs dead from suffocation caused by heavy smoke. “Apart from the three pet dogs who died, no person sustained any injury,” Pal said.
Officials said the fire remained confined to the top-floor flat and did not spread to neighbouring homes.
Recent Fires in Indirapuram
The incident follows two major fires in Indirapuram. On May 27, a suspected short circuit in the basement meter room of Gaur Biz business park sent flames and smoke racing through wiring and wooden panelling up to the top floors, damaging part of the commercial complex and one flat in nearby Gaur Green Avenue. No one was injured. “Three teams were formed immediately… one team wearing breathing apparatus broke through the rear wall, while others fought the flames from the front,” Pal had said.
That blaze came almost a month after another fire in Gaur Green Avenue’s Tower D gutted eight flats across five floors and damaged several others. At least 10 persons were injured and more than 20 rescued. Fire officials had then flagged access problems, parked vehicles, encroachments and PVC balcony sheets that may have worsened the spread.
