Following blaze that left woman dead, Fire Brigade to serve notice to Khar building owner

The fire broke out in an electric duct on the first floor and spread to the ground floor of the building. However, as the duct is connected to all the floors of the building, the entire building was smoke-logged.

A senior official of the Mumbai fire brigade said, “While all three women were trapped on the 7th floor, two of them (Palak and Sangeeta Thakur) moved toward a window of the room, and the firefighters were able to rescue them from the outside, using turntable ladders. However, the deceased (Jagwani) was in another room. She walked out into the lobby to use the staircase but got stuck there. The firefighters pulled her (body) out from the staircase. If she had also moved toward a window, we would have been able to rescue her from outside.”

The owners of the premises have been given 120 days to fix the shortcomings and submit a report with the Fire Brigade.

All establishments are mandated to submit fire audit reports from a government-authorised third-party auditor every six months (January and July), while the Fire brigade conducts random checks for audit.

In Khar, the entire building is a residential premise belonging to the owners of a famous jewellery store in Bandra West. The fire, said to be of medium-intensity, was doused after about four hours of fire fighting, at 11.08 pm on Thursday.