Mumbai : The city on Friday was spared a major tragedy rivaling the Bombay dock explosion of 1944 in which 66 firemen had perished. Thankfully, in the high-rise fire on Friday afternoon in the 22-storey Lotus Business Park at Andheri (W), there was loss of just one life — that of fireman Nitin Yevlekar (35).
In was a rather incongruous situation as 33 firemen, who were supposed to douse the raging inferno, found themselves trapped on the 21st floor and the terrace of the building that houses the office of Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgan and celebrity chef Sanjiv Kapoor.
They firemen were in danger of losing their lives had the raging fire not been put out in the nick of time. Dramatic videos showed stranded fire-fighters clinging precariously to railings and scaffoldings as giant flames leapt menacingly towards them. As timely showers caused the fire to abate, they managed to return to the terrace.
The unfortunate fireman, Nitin Yevlekar, was charred to death on the 20th floor after he lost his way in the smoke. Twenty firemen were admitted to hospital with injuries ranging from slashing of hands from glass shards, burns and smoke inhalation. However, none of them is serious.
The blaze did not seem serious when the fire brigade received a call at 9.44 am about a short circuit fire on the 21st floor of the glass-façade commercial building.
With glass panels trapping the smoke and hot air and pressure building up, the windows started smashing to smithereens. The gusty winds fanned the fire and around noon all the windows of the 21st floor exploded with a boom. This was when a brigade call was given to summon help from all fire stations in Mumbai.
The blaze that gutted the top four floors was finally put out at 7.21 pm. This is the first time that firemen themselves had to be rescued.
The firemen had entered the building via the staircase and were on the 19th floor when there was an explosion on the 21st floor. They rushed there only to find themselves trapped as the floor below them caught fire due to the explosion.
The fire-fighting operation showed lack of preparedness on the part of the fire brigade as there was only one snorkel ladder capable of reaching the 21st floor. Four smaller snorkel ladders were parked at the site, not even stretched out. Had three snorkel ladders reaching up to the 21st floor been used, the fire could have been doused earlier. But Mumbai has just one snorkel ladder which can reach 68 metres (21st floor). The others are 60 m, 50 m, 37 m, 30 m and 27 m.
The civic authorities requested help from the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard. Immediately, the Indian Coast Guard deployed a Chetak helicopter and the Indian Navy sent a Sea King helicopter to the fire site to rescue the trapped firemen. Eventually, only one man was rescued as the raging fire had been quelled by then.
Deputy chief fire officer Sunil Nesrikar said that the building’s fire fighting equipment was not working. He also said that glass façade buildings did not ensure enough ventilation and this proves disastrous in a fire.
