Three cars were gutted on a busy Madan Street in Chandni Chowk on Thursday afternoon.
There were no reports of anyone being trapped. A mechanic who was inside a Datsun Go that was the first to catch fire suffered burns on his hand that police said were “minor”.
The Datsun, owned by a man who runs a shop at the Chandni market, had a problem of “overheating” and was being repaired on Madan Street when it caught fire. The flames spread to two neighbouring cars.
Four fire tenders were pressed into action to douse the flames but before the flames could be controlled, all three vehicles were gutted.
“We were working on the Datsun Go. It was brought to us with a problem of overheating. We took a test drive and had just parked the car when it started overheating again. I just lifted the back seat when suddenly it caught fire,” said Abdul Rahim, the mechanic who was working on the car.
Rahim and the driver hurried out of the car. Rahim said he suffered minor burns on his hand.
The fire was reported around 12.30pm.
Madan Street, packed with pedestrians and vehicles on any working day, connects Central Avenue and Lenin Sarani.
The two other cars that were gutted were parked next to the Datsun.
Eyewitnesses said the fire spread to the other vehicles within minutes. “Before anyone could react,” one trader in the area said.
Many wondered if the fire was the outcome of the surging temperature outside. The day’s maximum temperature was 39.7 degrees Celsius. But the answer to this is no.
According to Susil Panigrahi, who runs an automobile workshop, the weather could not have played a role in the car blaze.
“Hot weather does not ignite a fire in a car. A possible reason could be a fuel leak from a damaged pipe coupled with overheating because of poor maintenance,” he said.
The lack of a coolant or problems in coolant circulation could cause overheating, he said.
Once a car is on fire, if other cars are parked nearby, they can easily catch fire as the seats and accessories in a car are inflammable, he added.
