At least 500 stalls were destroyed on Wednesday when a huge fire broke out in in the clothing and hosiery section of the Sector H-9 Weekly Bazaar, causing losses worth millions of rupees to stallholders.“Initial investigations show that the fire erupted in the Sector H-9 Weekly Bazaar due an exploding solar-powered battery in a hosieries stall at around 10am on Wednesday,” the Capital Development Authority (CDA) Director Public Relations Mazhar Hussain told The Express Tribune.According to CDA officials, of the 500 stalls gutted, the blaze completely destroyed around 95 per cent of the stalls at the weekly market, while the remaining five per cent suffered partial damage.Hussain added that the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation’s (IMC) Emergency and Disaster Management (E&DM) Directorate had immediately dispatched fire tenders and other vehicles to the site within 10 minutes of the fire starting.However, by the time the fire tenders reached the spot, the fire had become so huge that it took firefighters around four hours to control the blaze.Hussain said that it took around 150 firefighters and other staff of the E&DM Directorate along with 30 vehicles of the emergency and disaster management to completely put out the fire. Further, 15 water tankers from different formations were also deputed to ensure uninterrupted supply of water to the tenders. Ambulances and on rescue vehicle and 15 rescue staffers of E&DM Directorate were also present at the site.Taking notice of the issue, the Islamabad Mayor and CDA Chairman Sheikh Anser Aziz has formed a committee to probe the incident.Separately, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration has constituted a three-member committee to ascertain the cause of the fire and to assess the losses. The committee will be led by the ICT additional deputy commissioner (General) and will include IMC Director DMA and a superintendent of Islamabad Police for Sector I-9.The committee has been directed to submit its report within three days.Meanwhile, Islamabad Police Senior Superintendent (Operations) Sajid Kiyani stated that no one was hurt in the inferno.An official of IMC, though, told The Express Tribune that a rough estimate of stallholders suffered a cumulative loss of around Rs200 million.CDA’s weekly bazaar in Sector H-9 is a place where one can find everything for daily life under a single roof.Set up in 1980, the bazaar is a key market for residents of the federal capital. In 2006, the CDA rebuilt the market over 25 acres of land with proper planning.The market was divided into nine different sections, labelled from A-H, according to the types of items on sale at the 2,760 stalls of different sizes.The meat, poultry, fish sections are separated from other sections of the bazaar to keep customers away from waste and unpleasant odour.The bazaar is flanked by the Kashmir Highway on one side while it can be accessed by a double road and the metro station on its eastern end.The market operates three days a week including Tuesday, Friday and Sunday when thousands of shoppers flock to its stalls from morning to evening.Apart from locals, foreigners also frequented the bazaar to purchase their daily use items.Published in The Express Tribune, August 24, 2017.