New Delhi: Six members of a family, including a child, were injured as they narrowly escaped from a fire that broke out in their building in north west Delhi’s Tri Nagar on Friday morning.As flames and smoke choked the staircase, they made their way to the terrace and crossed over to a neighbouring building.The blaze allegedly started in the electric wiring, and quickly spread to some items and a motorcycle parked near the staircase.Delhi Fire Services said it got a call at 7.10 am at Anaj Mandi in Tri Nagar. Three fire tenders went to the spot. The fire was brought under control in an hour and the injured were shifted to a hospital.They were identified as Pritam Lal (38), his mother Anita Devi (50), his brother Bharat Lal (32), Bharat’s wife Moni (27), Vandana (24) and Pritam and Bharat’s three-and-a-half-year-old sister Soumya. All had burn injuries ranging between 15% and 25%, DFS officials said.The building, a ground floor-plus-three-storey structure, is on a 50 sq. yard plot.The affected family lived on the second floor as tenants. The first floor was occupied by the landlord, who is out of Delhi, while another family lived on the third floor. The ground floor housed a shop, next to which was the staircase where the motorcycle was parked.A senior police officer said: “A saree shop, named Kanhaiya Saree, operates on the ground floor and was not affected. Prima facie, the fire appears to have started due to a short circuit near an electric water motor where cosmetic items were kept on the staircase. A motorcycle parked near the stairs may have further accelerated the fire.”Akhil, a neighbour, recalled the moment the fire broke out. “It was early morning when my mother noticed a burning smell. We stepped out and saw thick smoke filling the ground floor,” he told TOI.Locals said sanitation workers on the street at the time helped break open the ground-floor entrance as the smoke thickened. Those living on the upper floor managed to escape before the smoke thickened. “They rushed to the terrace, climbed across to the neighbouring house, and came down through that building,” Akhil said.However, the family on the second floor had a smaller escape window. “We kept shouting and ringing their bell continuously. By the time they came out to the balcony, the staircase was already in flames. They were exposed to the fire while trying to escape. Eventually, they too reached the terrace and climbed into the adjacent building to get down,” he added.Sunny, a relative of the landlord, pointed to the storage of the cosmetic goods near the staircase as a possible factor that worsened the fire. “Despite repeated requests, a large quantity of cosmetic items like nail polish and thinners, which are highly flammable, were being stored near the stairs, very close to the parked motorcycle and motor,” he said.At the spot, charred remains of these products, including melted containers and burnt packaging, were lying alongside the remains of the motorcycle.