Fire at 10-storeyed residential building in northwest Delhi, firemen rescue 100 residents

A fire broke out at a 10-storeyed residential building in northwest Delhi's Pitampura, a Delhi Fire Service official said Thursday.

About 100 residents were safely rescued and no one was injured in the incident that took place late Wednesday night, he said.

A few residents complained of mild suffocation after inhaling fumes, but did not require medical attention, Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg said.

The fire broke out on a fifth-floor apartment around 1 am and spread to other floors. Fifteen fire tenders took nearly three hours to extinguish the flames, the official said.

A resident of the building, Ajit Chaudhary, said he called up the Delhi Fire Service as soon as he sensed smoke coming out of a hall.

Chaudhary, who stays with his family on the fifth floor of the building, said eight people were inside his house at the time of the incident.

Chaudhary's house had allegedly caught fire because of a short circuit in the air conditioner. The house suffered major damage in the blaze.

Residents from fourth and sixth floors, who rushed to the top floor, were rescued by the DFS personnel who came after 30 minutes of the incident.

Another resident, a housewife, said she noticed that a fire broke out in the building at midnight.

"We locked ourselves inside our houses since the fire had spread to the staircase and the smoke was suffocating us. Later, we were rescued by the fire officials," she said.

Furniture and other household items were damaged in the fire, the official said.