A fire broke out on the premises of the Bhrikutimandap exhibition grounds in Kathmandu at around 3pm on Wednesday and gutted a wheelchair warehouse. The blaze was brought under control in about two hours by fire brigades from the three districts of Kathmandu Valley.

According to Santosh Singh Rathore, spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Police Office, the fire started at the warehouse run by the National Federation of Disabled-Nepal near the exhibition hall.

“We are yet to ascertain the cause of the fire but we suspect an electrical short circuit,” said Rathore.

According to Superintendent Dinesh Raj Mainali, firefighters from Kathmandu and Lalitpur were deployed to the incident site to control the fire.

“The fire was taken under control after two hours,” said Mainali. “No one was injured in the incident.”

Dek Raj Bhattarai, president of the National Federation of Disabled-Nepal who was one of the witnesses of the fire, said the inferno caused a huge loss to the federation.

“I was at a tea shop nearby when the fire broke out,” said Bhattarai. “The fire spread rapidly and in no time it engulfed the warehouse.”

According to Bhattarai, the warehouse contained over five dozen new wheelchairs, over 400 crutches, and Covid-19 safety supplies such as gloves, masks, sanitisers donated by the World Health Organisation.

“We had stored a large number of old wheelchairs for repairs,” he said. “This is a big loss.”

Security personnel from Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and City Police of Kathmandu Metropolitan City were deployed to control the fire. Fire brigades from Lalitpur, Kathmandu and Bhaktapur and even some water tankers were used to douse the fire.

According to Mainali, the total loss caused by the fire has yet to be ascertained and an assessment report is expected Thursday.