kanpur valuables worth several lakhs of rupees were reduced to ashes when a major fire broke out at nine shops located at hoolaganj crossing on expressway road in pheelkhana area in the evening hours of tuesday locals and shopkeepers in the vicinity were on tenterhooks during the entire firefighting operation as the blaze could have spread further and caused immense damage to other shops though no casualty was reported in the incident property worth several lakh was gutted police sources said police said the fire broke out following a blast in a transformer situated near the shops mostly grocery laichana and sweets the locals informed the district fire control room about it according to police the fire broke out around 745pm and within hours nearly nine shops in a row were practically reduced to ashes by the time fire tenders reached the disaster site irreparable damage had already been done it took firemen about nearly an hour to douse the flames said shiv darash a senior fire station official he said the exact loss was yet to be ascertained i lost almost all my wealth i had i have to start from the scratch said kallu a shopkeeper whose shop was also gutted since the shops had sack and wooden fixtures the fire became uncontrollable