One Avighna Park fire: Short-circuit likely cause, says Mumbai Fire Brigade | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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One Avighna Park fire: Short-circuit likely cause, says Mumbai Fire Brigade

ByMehul R Thakkar, Mumbai
Oct 23, 2021 06:58 PM IST

The Mumbai Fire Brigade has allowed One Avighna Park residents of both the wings of the high-rises to go back to their apartments and have also restored electricity, except on the floor that caught fire

A day after a fire incident killed one person in a 60-storeyed One Avighna Park, Currey Road, the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) has said that the preliminary cause of the fire is likely to be a short circuit on the 19th floor and the subsequent fire caught by wooden furniture. The MFB, has said that had the firefighting system in the building got operational automatically, the fire would have come under control much earlier. However, the fire brigade had to manually activate the system leading to losing crucial time, said MFB officers.

TheMumbai Fire Brigade has said that had the firefighting system at One Avighna Park high-rise got operational automatically, the fire would have come under control much earlier. (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)
TheMumbai Fire Brigade has said that had the firefighting system at One Avighna Park high-rise got operational automatically, the fire would have come under control much earlier. (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

The MFB has allowed residents of both the wings of the high-rises to go back to their apartments and have also restored electricity, except on the floor that caught fire.

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The MFB has said the primary cause of the fire is a short-circuit and subsequently the furniture on the 19th floor of the B wing catching fire, however, the exact cause will be known after a thorough investigation, said MFB officials.

Hemant Parab, chief fire officer of the MFB said, “We went in 15 minutes after the call and activated the firefighting system manually. But had the system activated on its own automatically, the fire would have been brought under control much earlier.”

Parab added, “We are investigating further and the final cause of the fire will be out only when our investigation is concluded. For now, a short circuit is expected to be the reason behind the fire. We have also submitted our statement to the police. Also, we have not traced the form B, which is a six-monthly fire compliance report to be submitted by the builder yet.”

On Friday, a level four fire was reported at One Avighna Park, in which dozens of citizens were rescued safely. However, a 30-year-old security guard lost his life.

A viral video surfaced on Friday of one of the residents, Rohit Rathod, whose apartment caught fire alleged that the fire-fighting system did not work efficiently. Rathod could not be reached for his comment on Saturday.

Kailash Agarwal, chairman of Avighna Group denied all allegations to be true. Agarwal said, “There is a possibility that due to fire everyone was in shock and the pump operator due to shock could not manage to look for starting the system. The fire officers have also said that the firefighting system was operative but the pressure was low, though it was increased later.”

On Form B or fire compliance reports, Agarwal said, “I have submitted Form B both in January and July 2021 via online platform. There is no scope of us not complying with the rules and regulations.”

A letter shared by Agarwal claiming to have been submitted to the Mumbai Police reads, “While as developers we have provided the best quality fire-fighting equipment and the system even within the flat premises if the internal/ interior work carried out by the residents is not in compliance with the installed system, the system can malfunction due to the disruption during the interior work. Ensuring the functioning of internal equipment like sprinklers is the responsibility of the flat owners and in this case, it must be investigated if any interior work carried out by the 19th floor resident has tampered with the functioning of the installed sprinklers. Similarly, it should also be investigated if the excessive wooden interior work which is non-resistant to fire was instrumental in increasing the intensity of the fire.”

Meanwhile, Swapnaja Kshirsagar, assistant municipal commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said, “We do not have any concerns relating to the structure at the moment considering it was legal and an occupation certificate was issued in 2018. However, the municipal commissioner will take a call on Monday regarding a further course of action. It will also depend on the investigations by the fire brigade and the Mumbai Police.”

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