A fire broke out at Usha Kiran building on Carmichael Road in Mumbai on Saturday in a car park and five cars were damaged. It was earlier reported that the cause of fire was sanitizer. However, the Fire Department said otherwise.
Releasing a statement about the incident, Mumbai Fire Brigade's Chief Fire Officer Prabhat Rahangdale said, "As a first arriving officer at the scene of incident observed that entire vehicle was engulfed in fire, and high temperature and burning intensity was observed in the engine area, immediately within few minutes fire personnel's extinguished entire fire by implementing two high-pressure fire fighting jets at a time during operation."
Rahangdale said that further inquiry was made with owner of the vehicle and it was learnt that he came from outside and was parking his car in the car park area at the ground floor. Rahangdale said that the car owner also informed that he has neither carried out any sanitization nor kept any sanitizer bottle in the car."As soon as he parked his vehicle and before switching off the engine he observed smoke emitting from the engine. Immediately he switched off the engine and left the vehicle," the chief fire officer informed.
Rahangdale said that after checking the CCTV footage of the parking area, it was pretty clear that the statement made by the owner of the car was true. Thus by the statement of car owner and observations of first arrival officer the supposed cause of fire is "Defective Electric Circuit."
He also advised residents that amid the pandemic many are at home and hence vehicle's are laying unused. "Please service the vehicle’s also look out for rodents, damage electrical wiring usually cause fire," he said.
No casualties were reported during the fire.
Well, earlier, we may have heard of concerns raised by several people that alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) may cause fire. It is imperative to note that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged the low threat of alcohol-based hand sanitizer fires and released guidelines for safe storage in health care facilities. “Although the incidence of fires related to ABHS is very low, it is vital that ABHS is stored safely and that bulk dispensers are installed and maintained correctly,” it said on its website.
