Thane: A major fire broke out at Orion Business Park next to Cine Wonder Mall on Ghodbunder Road in Thane city on Tuesday, April 18. Offices, cars, two-wheelers, documents and valuables worth in crores burned to ashes in the fire. The security guard named Lalit Pandey of Orion Business Park alertness after the fire saved the lives of 100 people who were present in their office.
Lalit Pandey saved 100 people in the business park during fire
Lalit Pandey, a security guard of Orion Business Park said, "On Tuesday I noticed that the fire broke out on the 2nd floor of Orion Business Park due to a short circuit in the AC at around 8:30 pm. More than 18 fire tenders from various municipal Corporations including Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) arrived but it was difficult for them to control the fire. There are around 95-100 offices of different companies here."
"I along with one other security guard immediately shouted to hundreds of people working in the office and got all of them out. But the fire was so dangerous that people were running for their lives. I saw that 25 motorcycles, 10 to 12 four-wheelers and many offices were burnt to ashes. The Balkum Fire Station is nearby but due to traffic jams, there was a delay of 25 to 30 minutes in reaching the spot and the reason fire spread to the fifth floor from the second floor. The fire also spread to the nearby parking centre," he added.
What did the survivors say?
Vinay Singh Kumar, who has in his office at the Orion Business Park in Thane said, " I have my office at Orion Business Park but the fire did not take place in my office. The fire took on the lane of Cine Wonder Mall and many offices were burnt to ashes. The best part is that the security guard here helped many people to come out of the office and saved many lives. I will say hats off to the security guards here who were present when the fire caught and till it got doused. The Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde too instructed all the concerned officials to visit the incident spot. I will say that everyone who lost their valuables should not panic."
Pandey said, " The Fire system and alarm control of Orion Business Park all failed, people were working in their office even after the fire broke out."
Avinash Sawant, regional disaster management cell (RDMC) chief Thane said, " The fire at Orion Business Park has been finally extinguished fully after 12 hours of effort and now the cooling process is going on. The disaster management cell staff,
Thane fire brigade personnel, Mumbai fire brigade personnel, Navi Mumbai fire brigade personnel, Bhiwandi-Nizampur fire brigade personnel, Kalyan-Dombivli fire brigade personnel, Mira-Bhyander fire brigade personnel and the TMC officials and police officials were present at the spot.
The fire damaged one office each on the first and second floor while two offices each on the third and four floors and 21 offices on the fifth floor. Also, there was a fire at the puzzle parking lot (56 parking slots) at the said spot, out of which a total of 3 four-wheelers and 23 two-wheelers have been extensively damaged due to fire.
Awhad slams TMC officials
Jitendra Awhad, former housing minister and NCP leader who was on the spot allegedly said, " The fire at one of the busiest Orion Business Park in Thane spread till 5th floor due to the negligence of TMC officials and also TMC chief fire officer. Girish Jhalke the chief fire officer of TMC is not so equipped with the knowledge and he is inefficient. The TMC officials will just say that the fire took place due to the short circuit in the AC but they will not do the audit. An investigation should be done that how the fire took place and how it reached till 5th floor from the 2nd floor. The TMC officials and fire brigade officials did not reach the spot on a priority basis."
