Fire guts British-era building housing school in Nainital no casualties reported

Nainital, Dec 9 (PTI) A British-era building, housing Saraswati Shishu Mandir school, in the Mallital area of ​​Nainital, was gutted after fire broke out in the structure on Tuesday evening, officials said.
     Officials here said that no casualties were reported in the blaze, which was likely caused by a short circuit.
     Nainital Sub-Divisional Magistrate Nawazish Khaliq said that the administration received information about the fire in the building at around 7:30 pm, following which fire department personnel reached the spot.
     He said that the fire was brought under control after several hours.
     Chief Fire Officer Gaurav Kirar said that the fire spread very rapidly because the building was entirely made of wood. Fire tenders from Bhimtal and Bhawali, in addition to Nainital, had to be called to control the fire.
     Eyewitness Gaurav Joshi said that the building belonged to a person named Alok Shah, and housed the school, a tent house and a hotel.
     He said that the fire started on the top floor of the building.
     After receiving the information, a team of the State Disaster Response Force reached the spot and safely evacuated the school principal's family, who lived there.
     Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami took stock of the situation through a video call, Khaliq said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)