Kalbadevi building fire: Inquiry on, but there’s nothing left to examine

The Mumbai fire brigade has started investigating the fire that brought Gokul Nivas at Kalbadevi crashing to the ground on Saturday.

The Mumbai fire brigade has started investigating the fire that brought Gokul Nivas at Kalbadevi crashing to the ground on Saturday. The primary report is expected to be ready in three days. However, investigations are expected to be tricky, because there is no standing structure left to inspect.

Two senior fire officers from the department inspected the site on Monday.

Since the building has collapsed completely, there was only debris left at the site, much of which had been removed by Monday by local ward officers.

So far, officials have speculated that the fire started in the meter box of the building and was exacerbated because of the storage of LPG cylinders, cloth, chemicals and batteries in the residential tenements, where commercial activities are carried out illegally.

However, the absence of a standing structure means there is no way to confirm this theory.

Deputy chief fire officer PS Rahangdale said, “It will take at least three days to file a primary fire report. Compared to other incidents, this situation is different. We don’t have any standing structure to look at, so investigation will be based on accounts of eyewitnesses.”

Usually, in the wake of fire incidents, the fire brigade officials carry out site inspection after dousing the fire and try to ascertain the exact cause of the fire.

Fire brigade officers say the LPG cylinder blast intensified the blaze and ultimately led to the collapse of the building.