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7 firemen hurt during 8.5-hour op to douse blaze at Seawoods tower
A major fire broke out at a duplex in a 21-storey building in Seawoods, Navi Mumbai, early on Saturday morning, injuring seven fire brigade personnel. During the
A major fire broke out at a duplex in a 21-storey building in Seawoods, Navi Mumbai, early on Saturday morning, injuring seven fire brigade personnel. During the eight-and-a-half hour firefighting operation — one of the longest according to firemen — there were two cylinder blasts and the building’s hydrant system stopped working. Firemen had to resort to water supply from neighbouring apartments to douse the blaze.
All residents of Sea Home Apartments, near Palm Beach Road, had reportedly evacuated the building by the time firefighting operations began.
Three of the fire officials — VD Koli, Ganesh Gade and HB Bhoye — have been admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at National Burns Centre, Airoli, for burn injuries. The remaining firemen— Shrimant Joshi, Deepak Jawale, MT Pawar and PA Thackeray — are also undergoing treatment at the centre and are stable.
The fire allegedly started in the electrical distribution system of the topmost duplex, belonging to real estate developer Chandrakant Bhansali, 62. Bhansali’s wife, 38-year-old son Abhijeet, his wife and their two daughters — aged nine and 11 — were at home when they noticed the lights abruptly going off around 6.15am. Bhansali said he was making tea and asked Abhijeet to check the electrical distribution system, which they realised had caught fire.
Bhansali said his apartment’s sprinkler system started working when thick clouds of smoke started billowing out of the electrical unit, but it proved to be futile. “When we could not extinguish the fire, we called the fire brigade and ran out of the apartment, while knocking at each door to help evacuate everyone,” said Bhansali.
Navi Mumbai fire officials said seven fire tankers were immediately dispatched after they got a call at 6.30am.
The fire enveloped the 20th and 21st floors of the high-rise, creating an inferno-like situation. Fire officials Koli and Gade, along with their team, including leading fireman Joshi, Bhoye, Jawale, Pawar and Thackeray, climbed up to the top two floors via the staircase. They were caught in two cylinder blasts in Bhansali’s kitchen.
“The apartment had a gas pipeline, but they also had two cylinders. Two blasts rocked the apartment. Some of our men were near the staircase and were affected by the fumes, but most suffered burn injuries,” said Arun Bhoir, fire officer, CBD Belapur fire brigade.
Fire officials said the blaze was completely doused by 3pm, and that a lot of wooden furniture in the house helped fuel it. Although the fire was contained to the top two floors, firemen struggled with it as the building’s hydrant system stopped working. They had to use water from neighbouring apartments to help douse the blaze with hydraulic hoses.
“While the building had the fire no-objection certificate in place, we will check if the equipment was maintained properly,” said Bhoir. Fire officials are yet to ascertain the cause of the blaze.
Dr Sunil Keswani from National Burns Centre said three of the fire officials have suffered 15-20% burn injuries. “They have been kept under observation for the 48 hours in a suspected case of smoke inhalation. The other four firemen are admitted to the ward and are stable,” said Keswani.
