Mumbai: In the Dadar East high-rise blaze, Mumbai Fire Brigade officials on Saturday inspected the firefighting system of the building that malfunctioned, leading to a delay in dousing the flames. A report will be prepared and notice will be served to owners/occupiers of the building on Monday.
The RA Residency Tower fire
On Friday, a major fire broke out due to a short-circuit on the 42nd floor of the 44-storey RA Residency Tower on Babasaheb Ambedkar Road. There were no casualties in the incident but due to the defunct firefighting system the firemen had to carry up four pumps weighing 100kg to douse the Level-4 fire, which took seven hours.
A senior fire official said, “The residents tried to use the building’s firefightingsystem but something went wrong. The building has an occupation certificate but we have yet to receive the documents. The notice will be sent by Monday to owners for the lapse.”
The residents will be given time to comply with fire safety norms, failing which water and electricity would be disconnected. The building may also have to face prosecution, officials added.
Another official said, “High-rises are expected to have their own firefightingsystems. As this one was defunct, we had to set up high-pressure pumps on intermediary floors and use water from the swimming pool on the fifth floor. When the lift also stopped, firemen had to carry 100kg pumps all the way up.”
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