Major fire in Andheri highrise

The fire is believed to have erupted in flats 1201 and 1202,owned by tax consultant V Agarwal. As the smoke became thick,the family rushed to the terrace with 70 other residents. “First there was dense smoke. Then an air-conditioner on the 12 th floor fell crashing down. Later,another air conditioner from an upper floor fell down with a loud thud,” said a nearby shopkeeper.

“Some of us were sitting on the 13th floor when we saw smoke and heard people shouting. We ran inside the room but Devyani ran towards the lobby outside to check if we could exit. At that moment there was a cylinder blast on the 12 th floor and Devyani was badly injured,” said Tasneem,a resident.

Meena Hengorani said,“We could feel the hot blaze and the cylinder blasts completely shook us”. Sakshi Todi,18,said the large group on the terrace sat there for over an hour. They were rescued by fire officials and escorted downstairs in groups of five. “The staircase was dark and narrow so the officials were assisting us.”

Fire department officials said the building did not have fire safety systems in place. The mandatory fire-lift for multi-storeys was missing. “We found that the fire-fighting system called the riser system,a must for highrises,was not functioning,” Chief Fire Officer Uday Tatkare said. The riser system uses water cables connected to the overhead water tank or an underground water tank to spray water. “We also found that the lift lobby had no ventilation. The staircase that could have been the escape route was too narrow,” said an official. The width of the staircase in highrises should be at least 1.5 metres,in this case it was around 1.2 metres. “The building is about 30-35 years old so we are not sure what permissions were granted but we will have to check all the building permissions,” said the official.

Fire engines had trouble reaching the spot owing to heavy traffic in suburban Andheri. “Due to the Metro work many roads were blocked or barricaded. We had to turn back and take another road to access the site,” said a senior official.

As many as 10 fire engines,two water tankers and two turn table ladders were rushed to the spot. “We had tankers and fire engines coming from Anderi fire station,Goregaon fire station,Marol fire station and also Byculla,” said a fire official.