Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The failure of the fire services to douse the flames at the third floor of the six-storey Satpura Bhawan indicates that the equipment it brought to handle an emergency situation went phut on Monday.
The incident exposed a chink in the armour of the fire services department which a stone’s throw away from the Satpura Bhawan- a key state government building. Massive fire continued to flare up for over 17 hours in the 6-storey building destroying government offices and documents.
While the police fire brigade is at hardly 500 meter away, Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) two hi-tech hydraulic fire fighter machines worth crores of rupees could not be deployed to douse the blaze that spread out up to the sixth floor of the building.
BMC officials said there was no space to operate the hydraulic machines because of the construction pattern of the building. “Fire was completely doused at 9:00am. BMC has two hi-tech fire fighters and they can cover 17-18 storey buildings. But at Satpura Bhawan, there was no scope to operate these machines within the given space. Strong winds made the situation worse for firefighters,” said BMC fire officer Rameshwar Neel. ADG police (fire brigade) Ashutosh Rai said, “We are examining the inferno at Satpura Bhawan. Only after the complete assessment, we will be able to come to a conclusion how it happened. Still firefighters are still on the premises.”
