A massive fire broke out on the sets of Comedy Nights With Kapil in Film City Gate no.2 at Goregaon (east) on Wednesday morning, burning it down to ashes only a few hours before a scheduled shoot. However, no one was injured in the fire. The fire brigade did not have an answer when The Asian Age asked them if Film City or the set owner had taken the mandatory fire certificate from them.
Divisional fire officer Hemant Parab said, “We will be checking if they had taken the necessary permissions from us. It’s difficult to say how the fire broke out. An inquiry is going on. There was no one on the sets when we reached.”
Incidentally, the camera crew had reached the spot and was about to enter when the fire broke out. At the time of the fire, only a spot boy who used to sleep on the sets was present. The fire extinguisher, fire fighters and security guards hired by Film City turned out to be useless, the police said. The spot boy alerted the fire brigade that rushed in with five fire engines and a water tank. The fire was brought under control in around 100 minutes, while the work of clearing the debris by the fire brigade continued till late night.
Senior police inspector Uttam More of the Aarey sub-police station said, “We suspect that a short circuit may have occurred. The fire spread quickly as there was a lot of furniture at the spot. As of now we have not registered a case. The person who has hired the set will be our complainant. We are waiting for the fire brigade to complete their inquiry. We are investigating the matter as well.”
According to Aarey sub-police, the incident took place a little before 8 am on the set, which they said had an area of 30 square metres. A police official said the loss runs into several lakhs. The last shoot at the set had occurred at the spot four days ago.