Read the passage given below and answer the question that follows.
I had never seen a house on fire before. So, one evening when I heard fire engines with loud alarm bells rushing past my house, I quickly ran out and, a few streets away, joined a large crowd of people; but we could see the fire only from a distance because the police would not allow any one near the building on fire.
What a terrible scene I saw that day! Huge flames of fire were coming out of each floor, and black and thick smoke spread all around. Every now and then tongues of fire would shoot up almost sky-high, sending huge sparks of fire round-about.
Three fire engines were busily engaged and the firemen in their dark uniform were playing the hose on various parts of the building. The rushing water from several hoses soaked the building but it did not seem to have any effect on the flames. Then the tall red ladders of the fire engine were stretched upwards and I could see some firemen climbing up with hoses in their hands. On reaching almost the top of the ladder, they began to pour floods of water on the topmost part of the building. This continuous flooding brought the fire under control but the building was completely destroyed. While fire is a blessing in many ways, it can also be a great danger to human life and property.
The most suitable title of the passage is:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → A Building on Fire
The whole passage describes one event: the narrator watches a building on fire, the flames and smoke, and the firemen's long struggle until the fire is controlled and the building is destroyed. A good title names this central event.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Fire as a Blessing — Incorrect. Too narrow: only the last line says fire is a blessing in many ways, and even there it stresses that fire is a great danger; the passage shows its destructive side.
Option 3: A Pleasant Evening — Incorrect. Contradicted: the narrator calls it "a terrible scene"; nothing about the evening was pleasant.
Option 4: A River on Fire — Incorrect. Misread: there is no river; the "rushing water" comes from the firemen's hoses.