Kamla building’s firefighting system wasn’t working: Mumbai Fire Brigade

MUMBAI: The internal firefighting system of the Tardeo’s Kamla building, also known as Sachinam Heights building where a massive fire killed 6 people and injured 23 on Saturday morning was not operational at the time of the fire, according to Mumbai’s fire department officials

MUMBAI: The internal firefighting system of the Tardeo’s Kamla building, also known as Sachinam Heights building where a massive fire killed 6 people and injured 23 on Saturday morning was not operational at the time of the fire, according to Mumbai’s fire department officials.

Mumbai fire: Of the 324 fires reported in the city’s high-rise buildings between January 2020 and October 2021, 127 buildings, or 39.2%, did not have an operational firefighting system. (HT Photo/Anshuman Poyrekar)

Residents of the building said they did not hear the fire alarm of the building go off after the fire.

The massive fire gutted an apartment in Kamla building at Nana Chowk on Saturday. The first information abouot the fire was received at 7.28am. It was classified as a level 3 (massive) fire at 7.42 am, and took the fire brigade 2.5 hours to bring the fire under control, and almost five hours to douse the fire.

This is the fourth high-rise fire in three months in the city to have resulted in casualties.

On October 23, one person was killed in a fire on the 19th floor of a 61-storey building One Avighna Park at Currey Road in Mumbai. Two people were killed in another fire on the 14th floor of 15 storey Hansa Heritage in Kandivali on November 7; one woman was killed as a fire erupted in Notan Villa in Khan on September 23. In each of these cases, the fire fighting system of the building was not operational at the time of the fire.

HT reported in November last year, that of the 324 fires reported in the city’s high-rise buildings between January 2020 and October 2021, 127 buildings, or 39.2%, did not have an operational firefighting system.

In case of the Kamla building fire of Saturday too, Chief Fire Officer of the Mumbai fire brigade, Hemant Parab said, “The internal firefighting system of the building was not working, and the building has not even submitted it -bi-annual fire safety audit to the fire brigade.”

The entire building was smoke logged, even though the fire completely gutted only flat number 1904 and the common passageway of the floor. Smoke spread through the building due to a duct running along the length of the building. Parab said, “The building has two refuge areas, but none of the residents were found in the refuge area. The fire brigade rescued about 28-29 residents using the staircase of the building.”

A total of 29 people were rushed to three hospitals: Nair, Kasturba, and Bhatia hospital. Three patients among these were later shifted to Masina, Reliance, and Wockhardt hospitals for treatment. 7 out of these patients were discharged after treatment, while 16 others are undergoing treatment.