KARACHI(National Times)- Over 30 shops were destroyed when a blaze erupted at a furniture market in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar in the early hours of Friday and was later brought under control.
No injuries were reported, according to police and rescue services officials.
Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaan Ul Haseeb Khan said the fire erupted in the furniture market near Kamran Chowrangi. It spread rapidly due to the presence of wooden goods, engulfing the whole market.
It also spread to nearby residential areas and even engulfed a house, he added.
“The residents had already evacuated to safe places; therefore, no injuries were reported,” Khan said, adding that when responders reached the scene, they initially extinguished the house fire, which damaged a portion of the residence.
“Six fire tenders managed to control the fire after hectic efforts lasting for three hours,” the spokesperson added. “The fire caused huge financial losses as all stored wooden goods were destroyed.”
He added that the exact cause of the fire could not be immediately ascertained.
Meanwhile, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation said its fire brigade received information about the fire at around 1:35am on Friday. Firemen reached the scene within 10 minutes; however, due to dry weather, wind and the presence of wooden items, the fire grew. KMC said that around 35 furniture shops were destroyed.
Affected shopkeepers told the media that the fire caused losses of millions of rupees.
KMC Chief Fire Officer Humayun Khan, meanwhile, told the media that fire incidents tend to increase in Karachi’s dry season and that the furniture market was built on an open plot.
“Nearby huts were also established, and it was possible that the flames emanating from huts spread and engulfed the market,” he said, adding that around 10-12 huts were also destroyed in the fire.
Last year, a fire had also erupted in the same market. Rescue sources said there were “unconfirmed” reports that the furniture market was established reportedly on “disputed land”.
In 2015, a fire in the same market destroyed furniture worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. A contingent of eight fire brigades was immediately sent to the site of the incident, which was brought under control.
Fires frequently erupt in buildings across Pakistan due to a mix of poor infrastructure, weak enforcement of safety regulations, and widespread negligence. Many structures lack proper fire exits, alarms, and emergency protocols, while faulty wiring and overloaded power systems increase the risk of electrical short circuits.
The Gul Plaza inferno, which erupted on the night of January 17 at the mall, claimed at least 73 lives. The blaze took nearly two days to be fully extinguished and left over 1,100 shops in ruins.
In early February, a massive fire in a plastic factory at Landhi Export Processing Zone (EPZ) engulfed several nearby factories and took major firefighting efforts to be brought under control after 13 hours.
Days later, a fire erupted in a high-rise building near Karachi’s Baloch Colony, with around 150 people evacuated. On February 17, a fire at a chemical factory in the SITE Industrial Area was brought under control.
The next month, a blaze that broke out in Imtiaz Superstore’s Zamzama branch was brought under control after hours-long efforts by rescue officials.
In June, hundreds of people were evacuated as a fire erupted in the cold storage of a department store situated in a mega shopping mall on Rashid Minhas Road in Federal B Area.
In September, at least three people suffered minor injuries from smoke inhalation after a huge fire erupted in a factory at the Karachi EPZ, near Landhi Industrial Area. The blaze destroyed half of the three-storey unit and badly damaged other factories.
