Mumbai: 27 rescued after massive fire at Jogeshwari business centre

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) disaster cell, the blaze broke out around 10.46 am and within two minutes it was labelled as a Level 2 blaze considering the high intensity of the flames.

Later, around 10.54 am, the blaze escalated to Level 3.

Civic officials said that the blaze had initially originated from the eleventh floor of the ground plus thirteen storey building and later it had spread to the ninth, tenth, twelfth and thirteenth floor.

The MFB officials maintained that since the building has glass facades there was no proper ventilation system due to which the smoke got trapped inside the premises making fire fighting operation difficult.

The fire fighting operation went on for nearly four hours and the blaze was brought under control around 2.20 pm.

Chief Fire Officer (CFO) of MFB Ravindra Ambulgekar told The Indian Express that there were multiple lapses in the fire fighting system of the building.

“The fire fighting sprinklers inside the building were not working and we are yet to find out if the building had fire NOC and Occupational Certificates in place. After the blaze is doused a full scale investigation will be carried out,” Ambulgekar said.

The authorities also maintained that while the cause of the blaze is yet to be ascertained, preliminary findings suggest that it may have erupted from the wiring system.

“The flames had spread across the floors of the building through the wire ducts. Therefore, it is possible that the blaze must have originated from the electrical installations. The exact cause is yet to be ascertained but a short circuit is likely,” said an MFB official.

Challenging rescue operation

The MFB officials maintained that the rescue operation was challenging since the floors of the building got engulfed with thick black smoke to an extent that visibility became an issue.

Initially the fire officials tried to rescue the trapped citizens by using the staircases of the building. However, owing to the smoke, visibility became an issue and they had to carry out a rescue operation from the outside.

Nine fire engines and seven jumbo tankers were deployed along with two turn table (hydraulic) ladders.

The officials said that of the two ladders, one was used for rescuing people, while one was used to douse the flames.

“Since the building had glass facades, the smoke couldn’t escape easily. So we had to raise our hydraulic ladders till the eleventh floor and pull the people outside by breaking the glass windows. Our fire fighters also entered the building by breaking the glass windows since entry from the lower floors became difficult as it was filled with smoke,” said an official.

The officials said that while the ladders could only accommodate a limited number of people at a time, four victims were rescued in a single batch.

The BMC had deployed ambulances and the rescued victims were immediately rushed to trauma care hospitals in Jogeshwari.

The officials added that since the blaze was confined within the electrical installations and wiring system, they also had to spray water from outside due to visibility issues inside the building.

“The corridors and staircases were filled with smoke. Even though we had breathing apparatus, visibility became an issue as the electricity system was off and it was pitch dark. Therefore we couldn’t locate the source of fire. As a result we had to raise our pipelines from the outside and spray water by breaking the glass facades,” the official said.

‘It was complete chaos’

Out of the 27 rescued, 17 people suffered injuries by inhaling thick smoke.  Out of these, nine are currently under treatment while the remaining have been discharged.

All the victims were employees in different offices that were located on the three floors.

Anshul Singh, 31, an employee at one of the offices located on the 11th floor said,   “Since this is a Diwali week, not many people were present in the office. Suddenly we saw smoke gushing into the floor and our eyes started burning. Many of us ran towards the staircase and it was complete chaos. Some went out to the refuge area and got trapped there only to be rescued by the fire authorities later.”

Avinash Jain (47) another person who was rescued, said, “Initially I tried to take the stairs but I couldn’t find it as the corridor was dark and filled with smoke. I took shelter in one of the corners of the 12th floor which had an opening in the form of a window. This gave us space to breathe and later, the fire officials broke this window and rescued us.”