A major disaster was averted by the fire brigade personnel on Tuesday after two LPG cylinders exploded inside a temporary hutment site inhabited by construction workers at Bambolim. Around 12 huts, attached to each other, were gutted in the fire. Fortunately, no casualties were reported. The losses from the blaze were estimated to be about Rs 40,000. In another incident, a fire broke out at a footwear showroom at Osia Shopping Complex in Margao in the early hours of Tuesday. The goods inside the shop were destroyed. Firefighters were able to douse the flames, but a short circuit is suspected to have triggered the fire. The owner of the shop suffered a considerable loss. As for Bambolim, the fire and emergency services received a call at 10.44 am about the cylinder explosions. The firefighters removed three other filled LPG cylinders lying at the site to mitigate risks while extinguishing the flames. The 140-odd tinned huts, each around 5 metres wide, posed challenges in terms of accessibility for the firefighters, as the tinned sheets had to be removed to make way for them. More than 300 people stayed at the site. It took almost an hour to put out the fire with the help of two fire tenders dispatched from the Panaji fire station and the fire services headquarters. If the fire had broken out at night, it could have been fatal for those living inside the small huts as almost every hut had an LPG cylinder. The cause of the explosions is still unclear. The fire department has written to the electricity department and advised against allowing settlements where huts are all attached. They have recommended a gap between each hut. The fire department personnel also warned against using wooden separators during a fire as they can prove lethal. Moreover, people were urged not to create panic situations by running helter-skelter, which could lead to stampedes during fires.