Residents, building staff save bedridden senior citizen from burning flat in Ghaziabad

A flat in Exotica Elegance highrise in Ahinsa Khand caught fire with two elderly people inside

Timely intervention by residents and maintenance staff of Exotica Elegance highrise in Ahinsa Khand, Indirapuram saved the lives of two senior citizens when the balcony of their second floor flat caught fire on Thursday morning.

There were two senior citizens inside the flat at the time of the incident. (Sakib Ali/HT Representative Photo)

Fire department officials suspect a diya (lamp) that was lit in the puja room in the balcony of flat number E-204 started the fire.

“The other occupants of the flat are working. The fire started after they had left for their jobs on Thursday morning and the two senior citizens, including a bedridden man, were present in the flat,” said Shweta Rai, president of the highrise’s apartment owners’ association (AOA).

“The residents and the maintenance staff showed utmost courage and entered the flat with fire extinguishers when the fire was raging. The ailing man was shifted to an inside room as the fire was in the balcony. We immediately put him on the oxygen arrangement already present in the flat, as he was unable to breathe due to smoke,” Rai added.

According to residents, they called up the fire emergency number, but the fire tenders got there only after the fire was doused and controlled fully.

“The fire tender reached 10 minutes after we put out the fire. We have proper fire fighting arrangements and our guards rescued the senior citizens. The operational fire fighting system also helped a lot, otherwise the flames had almost reached the third floor flat due to wind,” Rai added.

Flat owner Dr Ayushi Agarwal said, “We don’t know how the fire started, but timely intervention by residents prevented a major incident. It was just 10 minutes after we had left that we got a call about the fire. The woman who called was crying and I rushed home. The puja room and most household items present in the balcony and got burnt. My father-in-law is not able to walk and is bedridden due to a health ailment. There is a nurse deployed 24 hours.”

“Recently, the AOA had invested over Rs10 lakh to replace old equipment and the fire fighting system was found fully functional. This averted a major tragedy,” said KK Singh, another resident.

“The fire tender also reached the spot, but the residents had already doused the fire themselves with the help of an operational fire fighting system,” said Ajay Sharma, fire safety officer, Vaishali.