Defective electric circuit caused Breach Candy fire: Fire brigade

A major blaze in Mumbai's Breach Candy Apartments was likely caused by a defective electric circuit on the 12th floor, according to the Mumbai Fire Brigade. The firefighting system in the building was also found to be not in working condition, leading to a notice being issued under the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Safety Act. A team from the public works department will investigate the cause of the fire and submit a report in 15 days.

Mumbai: Defective electric circuit on the 12th floor of Breach Candy Apartments was the probable cause of a major blaze last Saturday night, according to the preliminary findings of the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB).

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The blaze gutted the entire 12th floor 3BHK flat and also affected another flat on the 13th floor of the 15-storey building. The MFB will also issue a notice under the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Safety Act, 2006 as the building’s firefighting system was not in a working condition. The fire brigade did not issue a notice on Sunday as the residents wanted their trauma to subside.

Santosh Sawant, deputy CFO, zone 1, said, “Defective electric circuits have many causes. There could be a surge, overloading, wiring could be worn out and in the case of old buildings how much rewiring is done are some of the factors to be considered. We have informed the chief electrical inspector of the public works department (PWD) and their team will ascertain the exact cause of the fire originated from electric sources,” he said.

According to a government resolution, in case of complicated cases the matter should be referred to the chief electrical inspector, PWD.

“The PWD team will visit the building and ask for a report from the electric power supply company on whether there was a surge in power, which led to an overload and a report will be submitted in 15 days to detect the origin of the fire,” he said.

The security personnel should make the firefighting system operation until the fire brigade comes, Sawant said, adding, “If fire tender takes 15 minutes to reach the spot, then the firefighting systems should be made operational by the security staff and they should be trained in it. But the building’s firefighting system was not in working condition.”