📅 Date: 22/02/2026
📍 Location: Old Seelampur, Shahdara, Delhi, India
🕯️ What Happened?
Around 4:20 PM, a scooty kept on charging inside a cloth shop suddenly exploded with a loud blast.
Within minutes, flames spread across a four-storey shopping complex filled with highly flammable garments and fabric stock.
- 15+ shops affected
- 25–30 fire tenders deployed
- Fire controlled after 4.5 hours
- One person injured
- Loss worth lakhs
Dense smoke spread across the locality causing breathing issues and panic.
🔍 Core Mistakes / What Went Wrong?
- ❌ Charging EV inside a garment shop
- ❌ No dedicated safe charging zone
- ❌ Highly combustible fabric storage
- ❌ Narrow lanes & encroachment delayed fire tenders
- ❌ No internal fire suppression system
- ❌ No immediate extinguisher use at ignition stage
⚖️ Truth You Must Know
🔴 A single charging vehicle caused four floors to burn.
🔴 Congested access delayed first fire response by nearly 25 minutes.
🔴 If fire was controlled in first 60 seconds, building may have survived.
🔴 Garment shops are high-risk fire load zones — yet treated casually.
🧯 How This Could Have Been Prevented
✅ Never charge EVs inside shops with fabric or chemicals
✅ Install smoke detector & fire alarm
✅ Keep ABC / CO₂ extinguisher near charging point
✅ Separate EV charging area with fire-resistant flooring
✅ Ensure clear fire tender access in markets
🛡️ How to Survive This Situation
✔ If EV battery sparks — disconnect power immediately
✔ Use ABC extinguisher — never throw water on battery fire
✔ Evacuate instantly — do not try to save stock
✔ Close doors behind you to slow oxygen supply
✔ Stay low in smoke
🚨 Emergency: 101 | 112
📊 Stat/Data Box
| Indicator | Reality |
| Fire Start | Charging EV scooter |
| Structure | 4-storey commercial complex |
| Fire Tenders | 25–30 |
| Control Time | ~4.5 hours |
| Primary Fuel | Garments & fabrics |
📽️ Visuals
🙏 Voices That Matter
“Blast hua aur sab jalne laga… samajhne ka time hi nahi mila.”
— Local shopkeeper
📢 Systemic Lesson
EV adoption must come with EV fire awareness.
Markets must enforce charging safety norms.
Urban congestion directly increases fire damage.
Development without fire planning is disaster waiting.
💡 What You Can Do Today
✅ Don’t charge EV inside closed shops
✅ Keep extinguisher near charging area
✅ Check wiring before charging
✅ Report illegal encroachment blocking fire access
✅ Learn battery fire response basics
🔚 Closing Line
This is why we started HowToSurvive.in — so one small mistake doesn’t become a four-storey tragedy.