Time goes up in smoke when a fire rages. The logbook says the Control Room called us at 5.02 pm on Sunday. We rushed two fire tenders from here. I think it must have been eight when the building collapsed, says one of the 12 firemen from the Rani Jhansi Road fire station who fought the 18-hour blaze at Chandni Chowks Maliwada Gali. Barely five minutes later,he pushes back the estimate by an hour. It must have been nine. We do not carry watches to the spot, explains the officer,who cannot be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media. I remember completing all the formalities at the hospital and turning around to check the wall clock. I had assumed it was late evening. The time was 12.30 in the night. The 39 firemen of the Rani Jhansi Road fire station lost Charanjit Singh (47),who was one of them for 19 years,to the fire. Singh was posted at the same station throughout his career. He was a good man and was never in any trouble. If you do not create trouble,you are never transferred, says the officer. Mahavir Singh,transferred from Paschim Vihar with promotion as Leading Firefighter six months back,is at the Ganga Ram Hospital with multiple fractures and burns. The moment I reached the spot,I understood that this was no Medium fire,as the initial assessment said. It was upgraded to Serious later, recalls the officer. Each fire tender has a team of six,but once we reach the spot,it is each to his own. Individuals take the nozzle to areas which they think need attention. Those in my tender ended up fighting the fire from the four corners of the roof of the building. I was on the roof of an adjacent building. Charanjit and Mahavir were on the other side; and on the roof of the building on fire. Then,the building came down. Both of them had just relieved other firemen. We work like that the fireproof jacket does not keep out heat,while the face and hands are unprotected so we take turns, says the officer. Kumar does not describe the way the building collapsed. The roof just went down. We managed to get Mahavir out within two minutes; Charanjit was found five minutes later, he said,trusting his body clock.
