LAHORE, Feb 10: A huge fire completely gutted the three floors of four-storey New Auriga Complex on Main Boulevard in Gulberg late on Friday.

The cause of the fire, erupted at 7pm on the 4th floor, had yet to be established. The fire rapidly engulfed the third and second floors.

At least 100 firefighters of civic authorities, including Rescue 1122, the City District Government of Lahore and the Civil Defence, were trying to douse the fire till our going to the press at 11:30pm.

No less than 17 vehicles of Rescue 1122, including aerial platform having a height of 60 feet and Turn Table Ladder with a capacity of 100 feet, are taking part in the operation.

The New Auriga Complex, owned by Seth Abid, is known for the business of wholesale clothes and garments besides housing main offices of some companies.

The fire completely gutted the two upper floors of the business centre within two hours and a 90 per cent portion of the second floor, the witnesses and the firefighting squad told Dawn.

Huge flames of fire with occasional small explosions in the building panicked local residents and hundreds of traders in the complex and the adjoining Auriga Centre.

The two floors housing the Wateen Telecom office were burnt completely.

The New Auriga Complex is one of the largest business centres which houses over 700 offices and shops.

Witnesses said shopkeepers broke windowpanes of the offices and shops with gunfire shots to facilitate firefighters who were finding it difficult to shower water inside the building.

Abdul Aziz, a wholesale clothes shop owner at the first floor, said most of the traders had shifted their goods to nearby buildings when the fire erupted.

But the people whose shops and offices were on the upper floors, particularly the Wateen Telecom office, could do nothing to save their belongings.

Another trader Zahid Umer alleged that some people took away cloths and other articles from shops when traders were running helter and shelter owing to the huge fire.

Irshad Khan, an employee of Hanif Jewellers located at the ground floor, said the fire erupted due to 12 heavy and small generators installed at almost all floors of the building. The diesel and patrol stocked for generators by traders acted as ‘fuel to fire’, he said.

Sher Khan, another shopkeeper, alleged that a major cause of the blaze was the poorly-managed firefighting system. The system was found inactive when traders alerted the administration of the building, he said.

A spokesman for the Rescue 1122 said five heavy vehicles parked on the lawns of a house, located next to the Auriga Centre, and nine on the Main Boulevard were also engaged in the firefighting. — Staff Reporter