Bengaluru, Feb 23. A fire in the parking lot in front of the Yelahanka air base in Bengaluru, where the Aero India show is underway, gutted about 300 cars on Saturday, police said. No casualties were reported.
“The
blaze is likely to have been caused due to dry grass catching fire aided by
high velocity winds,” Director General of Police for Fire and Emergency
Services M.N. Reddi told to agency.
Fire began
around 12 noon
The fire,
which began around 12 noon, quickly burnt down the vehicles parked by visitors
and public attending the show at the Indian Air Force base in the
northern outskirts of the city.
Thick black
smoke was billowing in the sky soon after the air display of aircraft, which
began at 10 a.m., came to an end.
The fire
personnel controlled the blaze by creating a gap by removing adjacent cars,
Reddi said.
“In
all, 300 cars were burnt. Fire is fully extinguished now,” he tweeted
later.
The exact
reason for the fire, however, could not be ascertained.
“Details
of damage to vehicles is being ascertained. A court of inquiry has been ordered
to investigate the cause of fire,” said a statement from the Ministry of
Defence here.
A total of 12 fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the fire, the statement said.
The aerial
display of aircraft in the afternoon, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., continued
according to schedule.
Several of
the visitors, however, left the venue even as the air display was on in the
afternoon, fearing their vehicles were among the ones damaged.
“We had parked our car in the parking lot opposite to the air base. An announcement in the air display area by the air show organisers at 12.30 p.m. only said it was a small fire, but did not mention about the cars catching fire,” Shashi Kumar, a city-based engineer visiting the expo, told Agency.
#AeroShowOpenParkingAreaFire
In all, 300 cars burnt in the fire incident. Fire fully extinguished now. 10 Fire Force and 5 other fire engines fought the fire under the leadership of Chief Fire Officer, West.— M.N.Reddi, IPS (@DGP_FIRE) February 23, 2019
#AeroShowOpenParkingAreaFire
Fire has been FULLY EXTINGUISHED BY 2 PM itself, today.
ADGP and DIGP, Fire Force, supervising ops.— M.N.Reddi, IPS (@DGP_FIRE) February 23, 2019
#AeroShowOpenParkingAreaFire
Fire fully extinguished one hour ago. Cooling operations of the nearby areas also completed now.— M.N.Reddi, IPS (@DGP_FIRE) February 23, 2019
Vehicles got fire at parking area of #AiroIndia show at Yalahanka. Fire fighters On the spot.@DGP_FIRE @SunilagarwalI @KarnatakaVarthe pic.twitter.com/5YAk2izsDx
— Karnataka Fire Dept (@KarFireDept) February 23, 2019
