Books, furniture and other material worth millions of rupees were reduced to ashes when fire broke out in the premises of Ferozsons at The Mall on Wednesday. No casualties were reported as a result of the incident. Rescue operations were carried out by 15 fire brigade and Rescue 1122 vehicles. A spokesman of Rescue 1122 said the cause or the source from where the fire started could not be ascertained immediately.
The owners, who suffered multi-million rupee losses, suspect arson behind the incident as the fire had erupted during load shedding hours and the store did not maintain any urgent power supply or a backup electricity generator.
Witnesses said traders in nearby shops were first alerted to the fire by the smoke coming out of the book shop’s windows.
They said Rescue 1122 and fire brigade teams were alerted immediately and that they reached the scene within an hour. However, it took the rescue teams over three hours to completely overcome the fire, by which time, most of the books inside the store had been gutted. Shopkeepers from the area said they rushed to the book store to help the store’s employees escape from the burning building as well as to carry out as many books as they could. They stated that the fire had destroyed a large number of books and that putting it out seemed to be an uphill task for the firemen. “The amount of smoke coming out of the building hinted at massive damage even before the rescue officials put out the fire,” said Sajjad Malik, a local trader. Another shopkeeper, Mian Imran, said the traders feared that the fire would spread to other shops, but that the firemen put it out in time. Rescue officials also said the extent of the damage to the store could only be determined after taking a detailed inventory of the books destroyed. Traders in the area said the lack of fire extinguishers in shops increased the risk of huge losses resulting from fires that could not be controlled in time.
Traffic was also disrupted as a result of the fire and the subsequent efforts to put it out. Many commuters complained of being stranded during the intense afternoon heat on The Mall as the traffic wardens moved vehicles out of the way of the rescue vehicles and said better traffic management could have reduced the time it took for rescue vehicles to reach the scene.
Ferozsons remembered
LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
Ferozsons was established in 1894 by Maulvi Ferozuddin Khan and since then, the publishing house and book store have earned a place as the most reputed in the industry. The books and literary material sold through Freozsons were touted as a source of spreading literacy and education among the masses of the sub-continent. As Wednesday’s fire gutted the beloved book store, Tweets poured in from around the country, expressing unhappiness over what many said ‘was the end of an era’.
Sara Taseer: “Terribly sad to hear about #Ferozsons. Childhood days spent choosing my birthday prez’s from the wealth of books, a Lahore institution.”
Fifi Haroon: “Just learnt abt #Ferozsons fire incident.what an utter tragedy 🙁 all lovely childhood memories,ladybird series n EnidBlyton.”
Beena Sarwar: “Fire at the #Ferozsons bookstore such an integral part of #Lahore. It has left the store gutted and book lovers bereft.”
Mohammed Hanif: “The best place in Lahore. “@sepoy: This is devastating news. Ferozsons, Lahore was more a dream-factory than a bookstore.”
Farahnaz Ispahani: “Very sad. MT @mssolidarity: #Ferozesons an old bookshop in Lahore gutted from fire. For every book lover a sad ending.”