Fire occurs during power cut, police say short circuit!

Baner residents were stunned when the police and the fire brigade blamed a short circuit for a fire yesterday. Reportedly, there was a power cut in the area at the time of the fire.

The fire, which lasted more than an hour, gutted a house in Baner Gaon. Sunanda Kotwal (45) had stepped out of her house just 15 minutes before the fire started around 11 am yesterday. Within moments, the blaze engulfed the entire house.

"There was a great deal of smoke all over the place," said Prabhawati Wadkar, an eyewitness. "People were scared, but came forward to help. Some-one called the fire brigade."

The Aundh police station conducted the panchnama and claimed the fire was the result of a short circuit.

Kotwal's neighbour R S Jadhav said there was no power when the fire occurred. "I was resting at home when I smelt smoke," said Jadhav. "I came out and saw the smoke wasu00a0 from Kotwal's house."

No casualties were reported in the incident. "It was a short circuit," station officer Saibaba Jilhewar of the Aundh Fire Station said. "It took two fire tenders to douse the flames. Our team did it within 20 minutes of reaching the spot."