Fire sweeps through Karachi furniture market near Kamran Chowrangi and spreads to homes; no casualties reported
Firefighters brought a blaze under control at a furniture market near Kamran Chowrangi in Karachi's Gulistan-e-Johar area on Friday after flames spread to a neighbouring residential building, with officials confirming no loss of life.
A fire swept through a furniture market near Kamran Chowrangi in Karachi's Gulistan-e-Johar area on Friday, destroying traders' stock before firefighters brought the blaze under control and stopped it from spreading further into the surrounding neighbourhood.
The flames broke out in the market and quickly took hold among the wooden furniture and fittings on display, sending thick smoke over the area and alarming shopkeepers and residents nearby. As the fire grew, it reached an adjoining residential building, raising fears that homes could also be caught in the blaze.
Fire crews responded with four fire tenders and a water bowser, and Rescue 1122 teams worked alongside them to tackle the fire at both the market and the residential building. Officials said the main blaze was eventually brought under control, after which crews began cooling operations to make sure the flames did not reignite.
Chief Fire Officer Humayun Khan confirmed after the operation that there had been no loss of life. Speaking to reporters once the firefighting work was over, he said the fire had been controlled and that no casualties were reported, a point officials repeated as the most important outcome of a frightening morning for the area.
The cause of the fire had not been officially established by Friday, and officials had not yet put a figure on the financial damage. That uncertainty is common in the early hours after such incidents, when the priority is making the site safe and counting what remains rather than assigning a cause.
For the traders, however, the losses already look severe. A shopkeeper named Asghar told reporters that the market contained around 20 shops and claimed the damage ran into crores of rupees, with furniture stock reduced to ashes. He said the fire was reported through the Karachi police Madadgar-15 helpline, and that fire tenders reached the scene after 15 to 20 minutes, by which time the blaze had already spread.
The incident has renewed attention on fire safety in Karachi's crowded commercial markets, where timber, foam, polish and other flammable materials sit close together and a single spark can turn into a major blaze within minutes. Markets of this kind have suffered repeated fires in the city over the years, and traders often complain that narrow access and delayed response make the damage worse.
There is also an unhappy history at this particular site. The same market was hit by a major fire on December 31, 2024, when more than 30 shops were gutted and furniture worth millions of rupees was destroyed. Officials said at the time that the cause had not been determined, and no casualties were reported in that fire either.
Friday's blaze therefore raises a familiar question for shopkeepers and residents alike: whether lessons from the earlier fire were ever fully applied. Traders will now look to the authorities for an investigation into how the fire started, and for measures that reduce the chance of a third fire at the same market.
For now, the immediate danger has passed. Cooling work continued at the site after the main fire was controlled, residents of the affected building were able to take stock of the damage, and officials said they would assess the losses once the area was declared fully safe. No injuries were reported, and the focus now shifts to recovery and to finding out what started the fire.
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