Karachi Furniture Market Fire Destroys 35 Shops in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, No Casualties

Photo: Express Tribune

A fire at a furniture market near Kamran Chowrangi in Karachi's Gulistan-e-Jauhar area destroyed around 35 shops and 10 to 12 shanties late on Thursday night, but no one was killed or hurt, fire officials said.

The blaze broke out at an open-air market in Block 11, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, and spread fast in dry weather and strong wind. It also reached a nearby residential building, but firefighters stopped it there before it could do more damage.

Shopkeepers said furniture and goods worth millions of rupees turned to ash in a few hours. They said the market had been running for around 50 years, and they have asked the Sindh government for help to rebuild.

Main News Report: Karachi Furniture Market Fire Destroys 35 Shops

The Express Tribune reported the fire on Friday, saying it was brought under control after a firefighting operation that destroyed around 35 shops and 10 to 12 shanties, along with the goods stored inside them. No casualties were reported.

The Fire Brigade spokesperson said the department got the alert at 1:35am and its vehicles reached the site within 10 minutes. Dry weather and strong winds then caused the fire to spread rapidly within minutes, the spokesperson said.

At first, two fire engines and a Rescue 1122 team, with a fire truck and an ambulance, reached the site. As the fire grew, three more fire engines and a water bowser were sent. The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Fire Brigade used four fire engines and a water bowser, while three more tenders from other departments, including Rescue 1122, also took part.

ARY News reported the same fire, quoting Chief Fire Officer Humayun Khan as saying the fire was put out with four fire tenders and one water bowser, and that no casualties were reported. ARY also quoted a shopkeeper, Asghar, who said the market had around 20 shops and that the fire caused losses worth crores of rupees.

The two reports do not agree on the number of shops. The Tribune puts the figure at around 35 shops plus shanties. The shopkeeper quoted by ARY puts it at around 20 shops. The official count of losses has not been released yet, so the exact figure is still open.

Background Context

The market sits on an open plot near Kamran Chowrangi, and traders said it had been running for around 50 years. That long history is why the loss hits hard: many of these shops were family businesses, built up over decades, not new stalls.

This is not the first fire at this market. Traders said it burned before, and earlier reports record a major fire there in December 2024 that gutted more than 30 shops. No one was hurt in that fire either, and its cause was never settled in public.

Karachi has seen a string of serious fires this year. The Tribune report notes a fire at an old-clothes factory in Landhi in early September, and the Gul Plaza shopping mall fire on 17 January 2026, in which more than 70 people were killed. Those cases were far worse in human terms, but they show why traders and residents worry when a market fire is reported.

The response also shows how the city's fire system works under strain. The Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation declared an emergency at the Safoora hydrant to keep water flowing, after a request from Chief Fire Officer Humayun Khan. Police and Rangers reached the scene, and a K-Electric team cut power to the area as a safety step. Large crowds gathered on nearby roads, causing heavy traffic jams.

Reactions and Statements

Chief Fire Officer Humayun Khan said fire incidents tend to rise in dry weather. He said the blaze broke out at furniture shops on an open plot, and that carelessness by people living in nearby shanties could have caused it, possibly after a spark landed on furniture. He added that the extent of the financial losses had yet to be assessed and that an investigation was underway to find the cause.

Shopkeepers had a different complaint. Asghar, quoted by ARY, said the fire was reported to the police Madadgar 15 helpline, but fire tenders took 15 to 20 minutes to reach the spot, by which time the flames had spread. That clashes with the Fire Brigade spokesperson's account of a 10 minute response. The gap between the two accounts is one thing the investigation may need to clear up.

Affected traders appealed to the Sindh government for financial help. They said they had lost their livelihoods within a few hours and needed support to rebuild and get back on their feet. No government aid package had been announced in the reports used here.

Why This News Matters: Karachi Furniture Market Fire

For Karachi readers, this story is about livelihoods, not just flames. A market that ran for around 50 years lost its stock in one night. For the shopkeepers, that stock was their savings, their children's school fees, and their rent money. A fire with no deaths can still ruin families.

It also matters for safety in the city. An open-air furniture market, full of wood and foam, next to shanties and a residential building, is a high risk site in dry, windy weather. The cause is still unknown, and the official suggestion of a stray spark shows how small a start can lead to a big loss.

Third, the response time dispute matters. If fire engines truly took 10 minutes, that is a decent response. If they took 20 minutes, that delay may have cost shops. Clear timings, from the call log, would settle it, and traders deserve that answer.

• Where: open-air furniture market, Block 11, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, near Kamran Chowrangi, Karachi.
• When: late Thursday night, alert at 1:35am, cooling work until around 5am.
• Damage reported: around 35 shops and 10 to 12 shanties, plus goods worth millions of rupees, according to the Tribune. A shopkeeper quoted by ARY put the market at around 20 shops.
• Casualties: none reported.
• Response: four KMC fire engines and a water bowser, plus three more tenders including Rescue 1122, with police, Rangers and K-Electric on site.
• Still unknown: the cause of the fire and the final loss figure.

Readers in Gulistan-e-Jauhar should also note the traffic and power steps taken on the night. K-Electric cut supply as a safety step, and crowds on nearby roads slowed the operation. Staying clear of fire sites helps crews work faster.

Future Developments

Three things are worth watching next. First, the investigation result: whether officials name a cause, or whether it stays unknown, as with the December 2024 fire at the same market. Second, the final loss assessment, which will show whether the Tribune figure of 35 shops or the shopkeeper figure of 20 shops is closer to the truth. Third, whether the Sindh government answers the traders' appeal for help, and what form that help takes.

The blog has covered other city stories this week, including Lahore's smog crisis and the Hafizabad bus crash in Punjab. The blog will update the Karachi fire story if officials release a cause, a loss figure, or an aid announcement.

Sources

• The Express Tribune: Fire destroys 35 shops at furniture market in Karachi
• ARY News: Furniture market fire in Karachi brought under control

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