Thane, March 19 Nine furniture warehouses were completely destroyed in a fire in Bhiwandi, in the Thane district of Maharashtra, on Thursday, officials said.
No one was injured in the blaze, which erupted around 11:30 am at the Chamunda Complex in the Kasheli area, which houses many more such furniture warehouses-cum-shops, said fire officer Nitin Chavan from the Bhiwandi-Nizampur City Municipal Corporation (BNCMC).
The fire was brought under control after about six hours, around 6 pm, he said.
"Firefighters faced difficulty in containing the flames due to the highly flammable furniture material stored on the premises," Chavan said.
Fireman Bapu Sonawane, who supervised the firefighting operation, said that nine warehouses were completely destroyed in the blaze.
This cluster of warehouses had started operations just one month ago and lacked firefighting systems and equipment, he said.
Due to the lack of water, the firefighters had to face difficulties in extinguishing the flames, he said.
The fire brigade personnel from the Thane Municipal Corporation arrived at the scene late, while those from the neighboring Kalyan Dombivli civic body reached only at the start of the cooling operation, he said.