THANE, May 22 -- A security guard and a fire brigade officer died, while three other firefighters sustained severe burn injuries in a massive blaze that erupted at the Gaondevi municipal market in Thane West in the early hours of Thursday. The fire broke out due to a short circuit around 3.40am and spread across more than 150 shops in the market, gutting them completely, according to Yasin Tadvi, head of Thane's Regional Disaster Management Cell. The market operates on the ground floor of a two-storey building that also houses local municipal ward offices, which suffered extensive damage. The deceased, both municipal employees, have been identified as Kalu Shankar Gadekar, 53, a security guard posted at the Naupada ward committee office on the second floor of the building, and Sagar Shinde, 43, an officer with the Thane fire brigade. Gadekar, who was on duty at the time, got trapped on the second floor and began suffocating. After the fire brigade reached the spot, Shinde went in to rescue him, but also got trapped. "Both died due to smoke inhalation," said Tadvi. Three other firefighters-Sujit Pashte, 45; Sameer Jadhav, 40; and trainee Harsh Dhumal, 19-also suffered smoke inhalation and burn injuries and were admitted to a hospital. The blaze was brought under control by 11.30 am, officials said. The incident has sparked anger among stall owners, who alleged that no fire safety measures had been installed in the market, which housed more than 150 shops selling garments, footwear, crockery and vegetables. Sonu Verma, whose family has operated a ready-made garments stall in the market for three generations, said, "I have lost garments worth over Rs.5 lakh in the fire. Despite the market being so large, no fire safety measures were installed. We demand that the government compensate us for our losses as they failed to contain the fire." Shankarlal Devasi, another shop owner, said, "I have suffered losses of over Rs.35 lakh in the fire. I had stocked new products worth Rs.5 lakh a couple of days ago, as the college season is near and I was anticipating good business. I have lost all hope now. I don't have any insurance, so I will have to bear the losses myself." Sangita Wagule, owner of a footwear shop, said, "The market didn't even have a single firefighting piece of equipment inside. Footwear stock worth over Rs.9 lakh has been completely burnt." She added that the losses could have been minimised if the two fire engines usually stationed at the nearby Dadoji Konddeo Stadium had been available at the time of the fire. "Fire engines from other stations reached the spot only after 30-45 minutes, by which time the damage was already done," she said. BJP MLA Sanjay Kelkar has demanded the suspension of the Thane assistant municipal commissioner for allegedly neglecting fire safety measures despite the premises housing the offices of the sub-registrar and the Naupada ward committee. He also pointed out that although the market was originally reserved for vegetable vendors, several other businesses, including garment and footwear shops, had encroached on the premises. Rahul Pingale, Thane Congress president, said he had raised concerns over the lack of a fire safety certificate and the absence of basic fire safety measures in the market in a letter to the TMC commissioner on January 1, 2025, demanding immediate action. TMC commissioner Saurabh Rao said, "We have decided to conduct a thorough fire and structural audit of the market, and the work will be completed in two days. We wish to complete the deep cleaning, repair and other works of the market by May 31, and hand over the market to the stall owners by June 1 for operations." Thane mayor Sharmila Pimplolkar has announced immediate compensation of Rs.10 lakh each to the families of the two deceased TMC staff....