Rawalpindi: More than 150 people, including families, were evacuated from four-story residential apartments and shops on Liawat Road, Rawalpindi, and a fire broke out on the second floor.
In the early hours of Sunday, smoke quickly spread throughout the building.
According to witnesses, the young residents jumped to the roof of the adjacent building and escaped, while the elderly were rescued by 1,122 staff members who were rescued as a ladder of thick black smoke engulfed the building.
Rescue services and firefighters were summoned to the affected buildings, where residential apartments, shops and basement parking were available.
The fire broke out before dawn and the firefighting operation lasted for more than two hours.
There were ten cars in the operation, including six fire trucks and two ambulances.
Panic and fear spread between residents in the surrounding area and store owners of buildings. Shortly after firefighters arrived, police arrived at the scene and blocked the area to keep people away as the action progressed.
Mohsin Khan, who owns a photocopier shop in the building, told dawn He lives with his brother in an adjacent building and sees smoke everywhere on the scene.
“All my copiers, computers and other equipment have turned into ashes, and my brother tried to remove the printing and photocopiers, but I stopped him because his life was more precious than the equipment,” he said.
Another resident said more than a dozen stores suffered from smoke and fire damage. However, the fire department has not established a reason yet.
Witness Amir Shahzad told dawn When he arrived at the scene, he found black smoke everywhere, and the young man escaped himself through the robbery.
He said others were rescued by 1,122 staff members on long stairs.
Another resident said Rescue 1122 had earlier distributed notices to residents and shop owners, urging them to maintain a clear way to maintain fire extinguishers and take other safety measures.
However, no one followed up to ensure compliance. Multi-story buildings do not have fire language systems or equipment.
It is located just a few meters from the U-Turn on Liaquat Road, and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was associated in December 2007 in a gun and bomb attack outside Liaquat Bagh.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Posted at Dawn on September 22, 2025
