‘30% fires in Mumbai turn major, thanks to narrow lanes, illegal parking’

According to the Mumbai fire brigade (MFB) data, 4,008 fire calls were reported between April and December 2018.

Narrow lanes and illegally parked vehicles are to blame for 30% minor blazes becoming major ones, said chief fire officer Prabhat Rahangdale on Thursday.

A major fire broke out in Sargam Society near Ganesh Garden in Tilak Nagar in December 2018. (HT FIle)

According to the Mumbai fire brigade (MFB) data, 4,008 fire calls were reported between April and December 2018. “Fire vehicles reach the spot late owing to traffic congestion and illegal parking. This results in even minor fires turning into major ones. In some cases, narrow roads block our way affecting the fire response time. Ideally, we need free open space around the disaster spot to park fire vehicles and send in hose lines immediately,” Rahangdale said, while speaking at an event in Mumbai. “The overall count of fire calls, however, has seen a drop.”

A case in point could be the fire at Sargam Society in Tilak Nagar on December 27, 2018 that killed five people and injured two others in December last year.

The fire brigade personnel had difficulty launching fire-fighting operations owing to the narrow alleys and parked cars.

Taking note of the challenges faced by the fire brigade at Beaumonde Towers in Worli during June last year, the civic body introduced provisions in the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR) 2034 for construction of a podium to facilitate free access for a fire engine.

According to one of the rules in DCPR, which are a set of rules for construction in the city, minimum 9m of space needs to be left between the podium of a building and the compound, for free movement of fire engines.