For second time in a week, fire breaks out at Khar building
Earlier on April 21, a level-2 fire was reported from the fourth floor of the building and the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) officials rescued four people from the building’s terrace by using snorkelling ladders
Mumbai For the second time this week, fire broke out in the seven-storey Notan Villa residential building in Khar (west) on Saturday.
Earlier on April 21, a level-2 fire was reported from the fourth floor of the building and the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) officials rescued four people from the building’s terrace by using snorkelling ladders, during a four-hour long operation.
Last year, in September, another major fire was reported from the building and a 40-year-old resident, named Hema Jagwani, had lost her life after she was stranded on the top floor and was suffocated before the fire officials could rescue her.
According to the Mumbai’s Disaster Control Cell, Saturday’s fire was reported from a room on the third floor of the building around 1:25 pm. The MFB officials have categorised Saturday’s blaze as Level-1 and had pressed five fire engines into operation. While no injuries were reported during Saturday’s incident, it took the MFB more than three hours to extinguish the flames.
Hemant Parab, chief fire officer (CFO), said that the entire building had been evacuated after Saturday’s fire incident.
“We have disconnected the electricity and water lines completely and all the residents have been asked to relocate. Only one family was residing inside the building, along with their in-house staffers and domestic help. For the time being, we will carry out a full-fledged investigation to ascertain why so many fires are being reported from this building frequently,” he said.
After the September 2021 fire, the MFB had sent the owners of the building a notice as they had found violations in the fire safety measures of the building. Parab had said that after getting the notice, the owners had carried out repairs and made the building fire compliant. However, during Thursday’s fire incident, it was revealed that the fire prevention system was again non-operational.
“We will be again sending the owners a notice after our investigation and seek a reply from them about the defunct fire fighting system and our findings,” said Parab on Saturday.
Meanwhile, MFB officials who were present during Saturday’s operation said that the blaze had erupted in between the third and fourth floor and may have happened due to short-circuit.
“The previous fire incidents were caused because of short-circuits and we believe the reason behind Saturday’s fire is also the same. After Thursday’s incident, our investigation was underway and the residents in their statement have told us that sparks of fires were seen in the electrical wire duct of the building,” said an official.
“There must be some fault in the electrical duct and we will investigate the entire building to identify the issue,” he said.