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100 residents rescued after fire starts in 10-storey building in Pitampura
New Delhi: As many as 100 residents of Tower Heights Apartment in Pitampura were rescued after a fire broke out on the fifth floor of the ten-storey building early
New Delhi: As many as 100 residents of Tower Heights Apartment in Pitampura were rescued after a fire broke out on the fifth floor of the ten-storey building early Thursday. Firefighters said the building’s fire alarm did not work, and the fire trapped the residents. No casualty was reported in the incident, officials said.
According to Nipul Jain, in whose apartment the fire had started, his father, Narender Kumar Jain, woke up to a short circuit in the air conditioner in his room around 1am. Jain said his father rushed out of his room and woke up the other family members.
“By the time we returned to his room, the fire had spread. We called up the police and Delhi fire services. After that, my father and I rushed out to alert the other residents of the building on different floors,” he said.
Jain said most of the occupants were asleep and they went door-to-door trying to wake up residents. “We had also roped in the security guards of the society and neighbours also joined us. In 20 minutes, firefighters arrived and started evacuating everyone,” Jain said.
Avtar Singh, assistant divisional officer, Delhi fire services, who was the in-charge of the rescue operation, said 13 fire tenders were rushed to control the blaze. “When we arrived, we learnt that those living on floors below the fifth managed to escape, while many other occupants ran to the terrace and got stuck on the ninth and tenth floors,” Singh said.
He said when firemen entered the building, they found people stuck on the sixth and seventh floors as well. “Since the electricity supply to the building was snapped to prevent more short-circuits and as there was too much smoke, the occupants were unable to see anything. Our men used wet towels and handkerchiefs to cover their faces and lead them down,” he said.
Singh said Nipul Jain, in whose house the fire had started, told firemen that his four-year-old dog was missing. “On this, our men entered his house and found the dog stuck in the balcony. It suffered minor burns on its fur and was rescued,” he said.
Chief fire officer Atul Garg said the entire operation took about two hours. The fire was put off by 3.10am. Fifty firefighters were deployed and no one was injured, Garg said.
Garg said that the in-built fire fighting system in the building was not working. The fire alarms also did not function, he said.
