Vadodara: A residential cum commercial building near Gotri pond was gutted in a major fire that got sparked in the wee hours of Monday.Fire department sources said when the first team of firemen reached the spot at around 2.45am, the home appliances shop on ground floor and three residential floors above it were already ablaze. Seeing the intensity of the fire, several other teams of firefighters were dispatched to douse the fire.“Around 12 vehicles were involved in the operation to bring the fire under control. But the intensity of the fire was so huge that it took us three hours to douse it,” said Parth Brahmbhatt, fire officer, Vadiwadi fire station.Though the fire officials are waiting for forensic report to know the exact reason behind the fire, fire department sources said officials suspect some mischief either by occupants of the building or somebody from outside. “Even if it is a short-circuit or fire from some other source, it would have taken several minutes to spread to the entire building. Our first team had reached within a few minutes of getting an emergency call and by then the upper floors too were caught in the fire. Therefore a mischief cannot be ruled out,” said an official.Fire officials said the home appliances shop – Bansuriwala and Sons – is owned by Kailash Sharma, who lives on the upper floors of the building. “At the time of fire, Sharma was in the building and he managed to save himself by jumping on the terrace of a neighbouring building,” said Brahmbhatt.

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