Fire

Fire

3 mins
156



The long siren for evacuation was buzzing, and everyone in the building came out on the road as instructed. A thick dark plume of smoke was emanating from a flat on the second floor of the four-storied building. Probably the fire was due to a short circuit in the air conditioner or maybe it was a gas cylinder burst. No one seemed to be aware of the actual cause of the fire. Neelu, along with her mother and grandmother was staring at the blaze, wondering quietly whether their flat on the first floor would be affected.


Just then Punit came down. He was Neelu’s classmate at school and her neighbor at home. Both of them were in the tenth standard and had to appear for their board exams in a week’s time. Punit was coughing badly as he had swallowed some of the smoke. Tears were streaming down his cheeks.


“What happened? Are you all right?” asked Neelu


“Yes,” he replied. “I am okay, but Jhanvi and Megha are caught in their home. I hope they are rescued by the Firemen.”


“Oh my God!” exclaimed Neelu. “The fire is on the second floor and they live there. Now that you mentioned, I cannot see them anywhere. You think they would have been caught in the fire?”


“The fire is from their house,” said Punit.


“Oh, Oh!” she said. “I really hope that they are saved in time.”


Just then the fire engine started drowning the building with water from their hose. The firemen were climbing a ladder to rescue the habitants of the burning flat. Neelu could see Jhanvi waving desperately at the window to attract attention.

The fire personnel noticed her and hurried to rescue her. Neelu closed her eyes, not able to take in the sight of the fire engulfing the whole floor.

She prayed hard, ‘Oh God, please save my friends. Let them not be seriously injured.’


There was a roar from the people around as Jhanvi and her mother was brought safely to the ground. Neelu slowly opened her eyes and saw mother and daughter clasped in an embrace shedding relieved tears. She rushed forward to hug her friend.


“But where is Megha?” asked Punit in concern.


Neelu concurred. Jhanvi gave a wry smile.


“Megha went to the Xerox centre to Xerox some model question papers. She had not come back till the fire happened.”


“Thank God for that,” exclaimed Punit. Just then, Megha joined them with wide eyes moist with tears of relief on seeing her mother and sister safely standing on the ground.


The firemen had by then rescued everyone. They had also taken stock of the people living in the building and accounted for everyone’s safety. Except for one fire official, who had climbed the ladder for rescue operations and had severe burn injuries on his hands, everyone had escaped with minor burn injuries.


“What actually happened?” asked one of the bystanders curiously.


“There was a loud sound and suddenly we were in the midst of smoke,” answered Jhanvi. “We really have no idea as to what happened.”


“I too heard a thudding sound and then seeing smoke we ran down the stairs,” said Lakhan, one of her neighbors.


“The firemen have done their job commendably,” said the Secretary of the building. “Now let us leave it to the investigators to do theirs and not give in to any wild speculation.”


Rate this content
Log in

Similar english story from Drama