Date:17/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/17/stories/2008071759590600.htm

Tamil Nadu

Hartal after textile shop at Thuraiyur gutted

Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI: Fire broke out in a textile shop at Thuraiyur on Tuesday night destroying huge stocks.

Sources said the local shopkeepers noticed smoke billowing from the locked shop at around 10.30 p.m. and immediately alerted the police and the Fire and Rescue Services Department. As the fire tender at Thuraiyur was condemned, fire tenders from Uppilliapuram, Musiri, Srirangam and Perambalur fire stations were pressed into service to douse the raging flames. Private water tankers were also brought to the spot to douse the flames which gutted the shop. The sources said the fire fighters battled for several hours before bringing the situation under control in the early hours of Wednesday. Shopkeepers in Thuraiyur downed shutters protesting the absence of a fire tender at Thuraiyur and the frequent power cuts in that town. Police sources said around 1,000 shops remained closed. Fire and Rescue Service Department sources said arrangements had been for deployment of a fire tender at Thuraiyur. Short circuit, they said, was the cause.