An old luxury car parked at the basement of an apartment located near the Marine Drive walkway caught fire on Sunday evening. The car was fully gutted, while another car suffered partial damage. Timely action by the Fire and Rescue Service helped contain the fire that could have spread to another 30 cars that were parked on the basement of the apartment.

An official at the Club Road Fire and Rescue station said a total of four fire tenders from there and from Gandhinagar station strove for well over an hour to contain the fire. Inadequate ventilation led to the smoke exiting through the entry of the basement, hampering visibility. “There was no let up in the smoke, although we broke open a few glass panes of the basement. We thus had to use blowers to lessen the smoke and to make way to the burning car,” he said. A short circuit in the car is suspected to have caused the fire.