Loni fire: Narrow lanes, girders to stop heavy vehicles delayed fire tenders

The fire department officials said they received the call around 8.42pm and rushed two fire tenders to the spot from Loni fire station which is about 11km from the incident site

Reaching the house that was on fire in Loni’s densely populated and unplanned Behta Hajipur locality on Wednesday night posed a major challenge to firefighters who lost precious time in reaching the spot and rescuing five people trapped on the second floor. The five, including two children, perished in the fire.

The department officials said they also broke the rear walls of the house and somehow reached the second floor, but, by then, the five trapped on that floor had died. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The fire department officials said they received the call around 8.42pm and rushed two fire tenders to the spot from Loni fire station which is about 11km from the incident site.

“After receiving the call, tenders were rushed to the spot but they found the narrow lanes in the locality difficult to navigate. Our vehicles then took alternative routes for about 3-4km to reach the nearest point to the incident site. Girders installed on the road, to prevent the entry of heavy vehicles, also hindered the fire tenders. So we found alternative routes and locals on motorcycles guided us to the burning house,” said Rahul Pal, chief fire officer (CFO).

The officials said even gaining access to the house was difficult for fire tenders as the bylane leading to the site was narrow. The house that caught fire has ground plus two floors. The house occupants had parked two two-wheelers and a car in front of the house and these too were gutted in the fire, officials added.

“We pulled out hose pipes and joined them to get a length of about 200 metres. The firefighting started about 9.15pm after finding our way around all the hurdles. Around 10pm, we got to the first floor by breaking through walls and found two survivors, a woman and a boy. They were rushed to the hospital. In between, the fire tenders ran dry and locals supplied us with water using their submersible pumps. A third fire tender was rushed to the spot and then a fourth,” Pal recounted.

The department officials said they also broke the rear walls of the house and somehow reached the second floor, but, by then, the five trapped on that floor had died. Their bodies were pulled out around midnight.

The department officials said police personnel were also deployed in the area for crowd control.

Firefighters continued their efforts for another one-and-a-half hours and finally called off their men by 1.30am on Thursday.

Fire officials said the fire is suspected to have started on the ground floor from a short-circuit. They added that on the ground floor, they found thermocol and foam cups, used in women undergarments, and also a machine for sewing the material. These largely aided the fire in spreading quickly to the first and second floors, said firefighters.