A major fire broke out in a scrap shop near Athupalam in the city in the early hours of today.

According to police, residents noticed the fire around 4 a.m. and informed the fire personnel, who rushed there with five fire tenders.

Old plastics, paper, aluminium utensils and other metal articles were stored in the shop and fire was contained in about two hours, without any damage to nearby thatched huts in Poonga Nagar.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known. The loss was estimated at about Rs. 3 lakh.