Mumbai : Friday’s fire at CST would not have gutted the entire South wing of the fifth floor had the employees shut off the electrical mains, fire brigade officials told FPJ on Sunday.
“Employees of the Container Corporation of India, where the fire began, rushed to their 10 feet by 10 feet server room with hand-held fire extinguishers without realising that electrical fires continue to rage until the mains are shut off,’’ said a fire brigade official who requested anonymity.
“Only when the fire extinguishers failed to douse the fire in the server room and it began spreading, was the fire brigade summoned,’’ he added. By this time, panic had set in and people were running helter-skelter.
The fire brigade itself took 10 minutes to arrive. Then, it spent the first 20 minutes rescuing people, which is top priority. Only after that could firemen turn their attention to locating the mains. It is then they realised that none of the employees knew where the main switch was.
“Had there been any more delay, the fire would have spread to the sixth floor,’’ said the fire official.
It may be remembered that in the Mantralaya fire on June 23, the electrical mains were switched off in time. This was done not by the employees but by the firemen stationed on the premises.
In the fire in the basement of the Income-Tax building, also on Friday, the mains were switched off but lack of ventilation resulted in the place getting filled up with smoke. The fire brigade will serve a notice to the Container Corporation on Monday to set up fire systems in six months.
“Whenever we tell managers of old buildings to set up fire systems, they plead that they have no space for water hydrants and other equipment. But this is just an excuse. It is much cheaper to set up a fire prevention system than to risk loss of life and property,’’ say fire officials.
Sachin Unhalekar
