On a relaxed Sunday evening, the fire at a wholesale textile shop in the heart of Kozhikode brought back memories of the city's disturbing history of deadly blazes. The most tragic fire outbreak in the last two decades happened on April 5, 2007, when shops at the SM Street were buzzing with sales ahead of Vishu, which was just a week away.

A deafening explosion was heard from a cracker shop near Moithenpalli road, followed by an inferno which claimed the lives of eight people, including children. The blaze ripped through 27 shops, and the initial loss was pegged at ₹15 crore. While sabotage was suspected, the Crime Branch submitted a charge sheet in 2012, ruling out any such motive. The reason was attributed to the unscientific storage of fire crackers and Potassium Chlorate.

In 1995, SM Street witnessed another major fire outbreak in February when 18 shops were gutted. Fire outbreaks repeated here in 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2021. “Fire incidents have occurred multiple times on SM Street over the years,” said Kabeer, a bakery owner on the street. “I remember a firecracker shop catching fire once. The flames quickly spread to nearby buildings. Another time, a short circuit led to a major blaze that damaged a large portion of a building. In 2007, a textile shop was gutted by a massive fire that destroyed several buildings," he said.

Another place prone to fire is Palayam. In 2012, two shops were fully destroyed in a fire, and in 2015, a textile wholesale shop was burnt down at Palayam junction. The shop was on the 5th floor of a shopping complex. A fire outbreak was reported at a shopping complex in Palayam in December 2008.

In December 2021, a loss worth ₹6 crore was recorded in the fire outbreak at Kolathara Rahman Bazaar.
Past Kozhikode blazes in pics (Credit: Manorama Archives)