A fire has engulfed Nehru Market in Jammu, engulfing around 12 shops

A fire broke out at a historic warehouse in Nehru Market in Jammu city on November 8, 2026. Image: Screenshot from a video released by X/PTI_News

A fire gutted at least a dozen shops at the historic Nehru Market in the heart of Jammu city on Sunday (November 8, 2026) night, while another fire broke out on district police lines in Kathua district, officials said.

No casualty was reported in either incident that occurred during the massive burst of firecrackers on Deepavali.

However, the exact cause of the fires is still unknown.

A massive fire engulfed Warehouse Nehru Market, one of Jammu’s oldest wholesale centers for food grains, essential commodities and other daily necessities.

The Fire and Rescue Service said the fire started in one of the shops around 9.15pm and quickly spread to the adjoining premises due to the storage of edible oil.

The market has been serving traders, retailers and consumers since the 1950s.

Fire tenders from several stations across Jammu city rushed to the spot, officials said. Jammu Divisional Commissioner Vikas Kundal said on the spot that the fire has been brought under control.

“Fire rescue personnel, police teams and civil administration are present at the scene. The fire has been brought under control and efforts are underway to put out the remaining flames in the last one or two shops,” he told reporters.

Warehouse Association president Deepak Gupta blamed the spread of the flames on the delayed response of the fire and emergency services.

“What started as a small fire has engulfed around 15 shops and it threatens to spread further. It is a complete failure and gross negligence of the firefighters. Although the fire station is barely five minutes away, only two fire trucks arrived after an hour and a half,” he said.

Mr. Gupta said fire department officials did not even respond to phone calls at first.

BJP MLA Vikram Randhawa said at least eight shops were destroyed in the fire.

“It is deeply unfortunate that this incident took place on Diwali, where eight shops were destroyed and caused an estimated loss of crores of rupees, and it comes just days after a massive fire at Shiv Market near Jammu railway station destroyed dozens of shops,” he said.

The lawmaker said the administration should have placed at least two to three fire engines in every big market, especially after the Shiv market incident.

“The fire and rescue services have not learned from past incidents. The authorities must take these lapses seriously,” Mr Randhawa said.

A warehouse on the district police lines caught fire at 9:50 pm in the border district of Kathua.

Firefighters rushed to the scene and tried to put out the fire.

Published – 9 Nov 2026 03:00 IST