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Nehru Complex fire: No fire hydrant in Chowk hindered operation, suggests probe
The fire was brought under control after over four hours of operation, but not before 30 shops were gutted.
The massive fire at Nehru Complex in the densely populated Chowk locality of Prayagraj on Saturday has exposed many shortcomings in the firefighting readiness of the busy building that hosts hundreds of people every day.
An investigation by the fire department revealed that the commercial building has little to no fire safety arrangements. Despite the complex housing many shops that sell easily inflammable materials such as clothes and plastic goods, there is not even a single fire hydrant in the area, fire officials said.
As the blaze kept spreading, 20 fire tenders had to be pressed into service. The fire was brought under control after over four hours of operation, but not before 30 shops were gutted.
In the absence of water tanks, the emergency vehicles had to return to the Civil Lines fire station for refill on many occasions, an effort that took much of the precious time. The officials said the fire tenders had to make 80 rounds to refill water and return to Chowk.
Reportedly, Chowk used to have a fire hydrant, which got buried as the level of the road increased.
Chief fire officer (CFO)-Prayagraj RK Pandey confirmed that Chowk was bereft of any fire hydrant. He, however, would be writing to the Prayagraj Smart City officials to make arrangements for water tanks in all commercial areas of the city as they can be key during emergencies.
The probe also revealed that a tank of 50,000-litre capacity was built in the basement of Nehru Complex. However, the tank and motors installed for it are dysfunctional.
Even the basement was also put to commercial use and no alternative arrangements were made to deal with emergency situations despite the building having witnessed fire mishaps on previous occasions.
Tube wells in the area are in narrow lanes, making them out of reach for fire tenders.
