New Delhi: At least five major fire incidents occurred in different areas of Delhi between Friday night and Saturday evening, officials from the fire and police department said, adding that no casualties or injuries were reported from the incidents.

Officials said the firefighting and rescue operations continued till late Saturday evening, however, the cooling and search operations continued at two locations, till the time of going to print.

In east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar, four multi-storey residential buildings were partially engulfed in flames after an electric transformer caught fire, leading to explosions around 12.30 am on Saturday. Over 60 people were present in 14 flats of the four buildings, officials said. 14 people belonging to three families were trapped on the third floor as the staircase leading to the terrace was locked and fire had engulfed their exit through the ground floor, locals said. They alleged the firefighting operation was delayed because fire tenders struggled to reach the site due to vehicles parked in the narrow lanes.

Delhi Fire Services (DFS) officials said that the fire control room received a call at 12.45 am regarding a fire in Laxmi Nagar. Ten fire tenders doused the flames by 2.30 am. They rescued 14 people who were trapped, ” said a fire official.

23-year-old Arslan Raja, who were rescued along with six of his family members said, “Six of us were sleeping when he heard blasts outside and saw the fire. We tried to rush to the terrace but a metal gate installed on the staircase was locked by the fourth floor occupants, who did not open the gates.”

Raja said seven members of two families living on the first and second floors also failed to reach the terrace.

In another incident, at Shakur Basti slum cluster, nearly 150 shanties built on 2 acres of land were destroyed in a massive fire that broke out around 11 pm on Friday. Residents initially suspected that the fire may have started from a spark in an electric pole. The fire was brought under control by 1am on Saturday.

When HT visited the slum on Saturday afternoon, residents were seen searching for valuables in the ash. The fire left nearly 400 people homeless.

Nandani Devi,50, said she lost all her valuables including her only gold jewellery, ₹5,000 in cash, and two cylinders worth ₹8,000 that she had bought recently. “We could hear cylinders exploding. We fled barefoot, leaving everything behind. By the time we returned, everything was reduced to ashes,” said Devi.

The other three fire incidents were reported from Rohini Sector 5, where fire erupted on the first and fourth floors of a residential building around 9 pm on Friday; a tent godown in Delhi’s Loni was destroyed around 1 pm on Saturday; and a forest area in Majlis Park caught fire around 2.30 pm.