Mumbai Fire Brigade sends a team to One Avighna Park to scrutinise firefighting strategy

The Mumbai Fire Brigade will also prepare a report and submit it to municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal within two weeks, regarding the cause of the fire and firefighting after inspecting the premises of One Avighna Park

Two days after the major fire at the posh 60-storeyed One Avighna Park at Currey Road, the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) on Sunday sent a team of fire brigade officers to the spot to do a post-fire inspection, and scrutinise the firefighting strategy they used during the incident, to improve firefighting in case of such incidents in future.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade on Friday had noted that the One Avighna Park building’s firefighting system was functional, but not operational at the time of the fire and that the fire brigade had to manually turn it on to use water from the system to fight the fire. (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

The Mumbai Fire Brigade will also prepare a report and submit it to municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal within two weeks, regarding the cause of the fire after inspecting the premises.

A senior official of the Mumbai Fire Brigade said, “The site visit was part of the procedure to inspect the premises post the fire. We have also been collecting data to help us improve firefighting strategies for high-rise buildings. On Sunday, we retraced our firefighting strategy and scrutinised it. This building is going to be there for many more years too, and we wanted to understand what should be our best vantage point and strategy.”

According to the officers, a short circuit is likely to be the cause and source of the fire in apartment number 1902, on the 19th floor of One Avighna Park. However, the fire brigade will conduct a probe to determine the cause of the fire. A security guard from the housing society identified as Arun Tiwari, 27, fell to his death from the 19 floors of the building. A video that was widely circulated on social media showed the guard clinging onto the parapet of the window before he lost his grip and fell onto a fire truck parked below.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade on Friday had noted that the building’s firefighting system was functional, but not operational at the time of the fire and that the fire brigade had to manually turn it on to use water from the system to fight the fire.

The owner of the flat 1902, in a video, had alleged that the firefighting system had no water, and had that not been the case, it would have been easier to contain the fire at the very beginning.

However, Kailash Agarwal of Nish Developers who constructed Avighna Park denied the claims and said, “The high-rises fire safety is one of the best in the world. I had procured the system from Norway by spending around ₹10 crore. I have also been regularly conducting fire drills and submitting fire audit reports to the competent authorities.”