Fire razes building on Salwa Road

Peter Alagos/Business ReporterA building housing a curtain showroom near the Decoration signal on  Salwa Road was gutted in a devastating fire yesterday evening.The fire reportedly started around 7pm and was put out late in the evening. There were no reports of any injuries as the store was closed on account of being Friday, the weekly off day.Fire-fighters also managed to prevent the flames from spreading to adjacent buildings. A petrol station is located less then 100m away.The cause of the blaze was yet to be ascertained.Police and Civil Defence personnel arrived at the spot immediately and brought  the situation under control.The affected store, which sources at the spot said was called Al Sharq Curtain Shop, was located between Studio Qatar and an under-construction building. Teyseer Service Centre, the fuel station, is just two buildings away.“It was a close call,” said a security guard working at an adjacent establishment, referring to the fuel station.The guard, who asked not to be named, told Gulf Times that he noticed the flames around 7pm on the ground floor of the curtain shop. Initially, three fire trucks responded to the scene, he said.However, the flames spread quickly to the rear portion of the building and three more fire engines arrived at the spot, he added.Meanwhile, traffic was affected on Salwa Road for a while after the fire broke out.Speaking to Gulf Times over phone, an employee of the curtain shop said he was informed about the fire around 8pm. When he arrived on the scene, almost the entire showroom, which occupied a whole stand alone building, had been destroyed.“We still cannot determine the cause of the fire because the authorities have prevented us from going near the building,” he said, adding that the shop was closed on Fridays and the staff had taken their day off.Police responded immediately to the situation and diverted traffic to safer routes. They also cordoned off the area as a precautionary measure.A little after 9pm, the Ministry of Interior said on Twitter that Civil Defence personnel were cooling the site and there were no injuries.