20221216 Fire guts flat; second blaze in Mumbai’s tony tower in more than a year
India Dec 16 2022 “Apartment houses” “Building”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 1 to 9
Fire guts flat; second blaze in Mumbai’s tony tower in more than a year
Updated: 2022-12-16
MUMBAI: A major fire broke out in a 22nd floor flat in B-Wing of One Avighna Park near Currey Road station on Thursday morning. Close to 60 people were rescued by the fire brigade from the 60-storey luxury highrise.
The incident comes more than a year after flames gutted a 19th floor flat in the same wing. A security guard had fallen to his death from the 19th floor balcony in the October 22, 2021, blaze. Unlike last year when the sprinkler system did not start working till the fire brigade arrived after 15 minutes, this time, the system got activated immediately. “The firefighting system of the building was functional, which aided in the dousing operations,” said chief fire officer Sanjay Manjrekar.
The fire, which erupted around 10.30am, was brought under control by 1.45pm.No resident of the twin towers of One Avighna Park, that boast sky villas and sky mansions, was injured, but two firemen – Ramdas Sanas (37) and Mahesh Patil (26) – suffered minor burns. They were treated at the civic-run KEM Hospital and discharged by evening.
A resident of B-Wing, who complained of smoke inhalation, was taken to Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai Central. “A 26-year-old woman came to the hospital in the morning with a smoke inhalation com-plaint. She was treated and stabilised in the emergency department. By afternoon she was discharged,” Dr Virendra Chauhan, centre head, Wockhardt Hospital, said.
While no one was in the 4BHK apartment when the fire broke out, residents suspect that the family’s pet dog was inside and died.
Manjrekar said the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, but they suspect a short-circuit. “We will also take statements from the flat occupants to find out if any lamp was lit in the flat while they were away,” he said.
Assistant divisional fire officer V N Sangle said while the 22nd floor flat was completely gutted, the railing of the 23rd flat above got burnt as the flames spread upwards. He added that the 22nd floor flat had a lot of combustible material like wooden furniture and decor.
Kanubhai Rawal, a resident, said: “As soon as the alarm went off, the building’s firefighting system immediately got activated.”
Sangle said: “We took the residents via the staircase to the 25th floor, which is the refuge floor, then via the connecting A-Wing’s lift brought them out to safety.”
One Avighna Park on Mahadev Palav Marg is one of the city’s first and largest cluster redevelopment projects and has been occupied by residents for close to six years. Each floor has three flats – a 3-BHK, a 4BHK and a 5 BHK.
Web Source: The Times of India