600.000 Comics Artefacts destroyed in a Fire

On October 1, 2025, a catastrophic fire engulfed the Amar Chitra Katha (ACK) warehouse in Bhiwandi, a suburb of Mumbai, India, resulting in the irreparable destruction of approximately 600,000 comic artefacts. The fire, reportedly ignited by an electrical short circuit, spread rapidly over four days before firefighters were able to contain its damage.

If the fire’s origin is confirmed to be a short circuit within the warehouse, the case falls under a known vulnerability in industrial and storage facilities. The prolonged duration of the fire, lasting four days, highlighted the difficulties in suppressing and containing fires in warehouse environments that contain combustible materials such as paper, ink, and plastics, which are commonly used in merchandise and packaging.

The scale of the fire was further compounded by the highly flammable contents and potentially inadequate internal fire protection measures.

The impact of the fire extended beyond the physical loss of comic artefacts. It resulted in the destruction of approximately 600,000 physical units of Amar Chitra Katha and its sister publication, Tinkle, including special edition box sets and related merchandise.

This included over 200 original hand-drawn positives—transparent film line-art illustrations—from the 1960s and 1970s. These artworks, of great value and irreplaceability, constituted a significant portion of India’s illustrated cultural heritage.

While many of these originals were digitally archived, the physical loss remains permanent. The destruction of original film positives and archival materials has rendered any possibility of exhibiting these historic works in their original form obsolete. The loss has a profound emotional impact on millions of readers and cultural custodians, given the comics’ pivotal role in popularising Indian mythology, history, and folklore since 1967.

This incident echoes a similar fire that occurred in 1994 at Mumbai’s India Book House, which also caused damage to valuable reference books and unreleased artwork related to Amar Chitra Katha.

Following this event, the company recovered and leveraged digital platforms to expand its reach.

Today, the Amar Chitra Katha team remains committed to rebuilding, emphasising resilience and innovation through digital means. However, from a fire safety and heritage preservation perspective, the latest fire highlights critical lessons:

• The importance of robust electrical safety measures and circuit protection in heritage-related storage environments.
• The need for advanced fire detection and rapid suppression systems tailored to archival and warehouse settings, where combustible paper materials are prevalent.
• The value of redundant archival methods, including digital preservation alongside physical safeguards.
• Enhanced training for firefighting teams on prolonged warehouse fire behaviour and mitigation strategies.