A fire broke out in the projector room of a movie theatre at Pacific Mall in Kaushambi, Ghaziabad, on Thursday morning, sending thick smoke through the premises. Firefighters managed to douse the flames after approximately an hour, and no casualties were reported. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Incident Details
Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Rahul Pal stated that the fire department received a call about the incident around 7:20 am. Initially, five fire tenders were dispatched to the scene, but an additional five were called in later as the intensity of the fire became apparent. Firefighters discovered that the blaze originated in the projector room of Moviemax, the theatre located within the mall.
The fire service deployed eight lines of hose pipes and utilized the mall's built-in firefighting system. Personnel wearing breathing apparatus (BA) sets worked to extinguish the flames. Given the severity of the fire, extra vehicles along with their officers-in-charge were summoned from Kotwali and Sahibabad fire stations.
Firefighting Efforts
Firefighters successfully contained the fire within an hour, preventing it from spreading to adjacent halls and nearby shops. Due to the early hour, no shows were running at the time of the incident. A total of ten fire tenders, supplemented by the mall's firefighting infrastructure, were used to completely extinguish the fire. Exhaust systems are now being employed to clear the remaining smoke from the premises.
According to CFO Pal, the mall possesses a valid fire No Objection Certificate (NOC), and all firefighting equipment on site was found to be functioning correctly. The exact cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but officials suspect a short circuit may have sparked the blaze. Investigations are ongoing.
Impact and Response
The affected area has been cordoned off from the public. A spokesperson for Moviemax confirmed that shows will be suspended for the next few days while repair work is underway. All scheduled shows for Thursday were cancelled following the fire. The spokesperson added, 'We are assessing the loss, but teams are working hard to resume operations as soon as possible.'
Authorities continue to monitor the situation, and further updates are expected as the investigation progresses.
