A firecracker allegedly entering a 24th-floor flat at the Panache residential complex near Salt Lake’s Sector V set the apartment ablaze shortly after midnight on Diwali, forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate. No injuries or casualties were reported, while police and fire officials began investigating how the fire started.
The affected flat is located in Tower 6 of the complex at Mahisbathan. According to the Times of India report, the firecracker may have been an aerial shell or rocket that entered through an open window and struck wooden furniture inside the unoccupied apartment. The room caught fire and the flat was mostly gutted.
The owners, a couple and their elderly relative, were in Chennai when the incident occurred. Police alerted them and they returned to Kolkata on Monday. Officers suspect that a window had been left open in the flat, but the precise circumstances remained under investigation.
As the fire spread, the complex’s internal firefighting system was activated and three fire tenders reached the site. Authorities disconnected the power supply to the affected tower and the adjoining tower as a safety measure. Elevators in Tower 6 also became inoperable during the emergency response.
The evacuation created particular difficulties for elderly residents and people with mobility challenges. Rescue personnel and neighbours helped carry some elderly residents, including people in wheelchairs, down the stairs after the lifts stopped working. The incident therefore tested not only the building’s firefighting infrastructure but also its ability to move residents safely from upper floors during a power and lift shutdown.
Residents told the newspaper that police had visited the complex several times earlier and cautioned people against bursting illegal firecrackers. The report did not identify any person responsible for the firecracker or state whether any arrest had been made.
Fire officials and police have launched a probe into the incident. Their investigation is expected to establish how the firecracker reached the flat, whether building safety procedures were followed and whether any violation of restrictions on illegal firecrackers contributed to the blaze.
