Mumbai high-rise fire: Sprinklers’ location was changed, suspect officials, developer

A 30-year-old security guard had lost his life after the fire broke out on the 19th floor of the Mumbai high-rise on October 22, while dozens of residents were rescued safely from the building

The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB), which is investigating the level-4 fire at the 60-storeyed Avighna Park, on Monday said that certain illegal alterations – including changing the location of water sprinklers for firefighting – have likely been made on the 19th-floor apartment, which might have helped the blaze spread further to the other floors.

The fire brigade officials had said that the primary cause behind the incident is short circuit in the 19th-floor apartment of B-wing of the building at Currey Road, Mumbai. (HT FILE)

Hemant Parab, MFB’s chief fire officer, said, “We are still investigating, but it looks like several illegal alterations were made inside the flat, including changing the location of the sprinklers. We will have to verify with the actual plan [of the building] and also question the flat owner. The process is on, but primarily, some illegal alterations have been noticed.”

The developer of the high-rise also alleged on Monday that the location of the sprinklers inside the 19th-floor flat, where the fire broke out, was changed and the water supply was shut.

Nishant Agarwal, managing director, Avighna Group, in a statement issued on Monday, said, “All equipment and pumps were fully functional and were the key factor in bringing the fire under control at the earliest.

Agarwal added, “It is evident that the location of the sprinklers has been changed. It seems that he has used a third-party contractor to do this work without our knowledge. In order to carry out this work, he seems to have shut the water supply to the sprinklers on his own, and [that] could possibly be the reason why the automatic response sprinklers did not activate when the fire broke out, as claimed by the owner. In the instant case, it seems that the flat owner has violated and ignored the guidelines issued by us and has executed unauthorised changes within the flat premises (sic).”

Rohit Rathod, the owner of the flat on the 19th floor, was not available for comment despite repeated attempts.

The building is being managed by the developer currently, as the process of handing it over to the society has not been completed yet.

Meanwhile, a meeting was held between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and MFB, wherein it was decided to take up regular inspection of high-rises to check fire compliance and come up with ways to ensure that more citizens become more fire-safety conscious.

A 30-year-old security guard had lost his life after the fire broke out at the Currey Road high-rise on October 22, while dozens of residents were rescued safely from the building.

MFB had said that the primary cause behind the incident is a short circuit, owing to which the furniture on the 19th floor of the B-wing had caught fire. However, the exact cause will be known after a thorough investigation, said MFB officials.

BMC and MFB had allowed all the residents, except those on the 19th floor, to move back to their flats. The power supply to both the wings of the building was also restored on Saturday.

MFB to get 24 fire bikes

For quick response and easy access in congested areas, MFB is set to get fire bikes for firefighting. In a first, BMC will procure 24 fire bikes that will be inducted in MFB’s fleet. A proposal of ₹3.15 crore, which includes procurement, assembling, maintenance and operation of fire bikes for five years will be tabled in standing committee for approval on Wednesday. The fire bikes will cost ₹2.76 crore. MFB will spend ₹28.32 lakh on services for five years.