20201016 City high rise blaze claims 12 yr old boy elderly woman
India Oct 16 2020 “Apartment houses” “Building” “Houses”
Dead : dead 1 to 4 Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 1 to 9
City high rise blaze claims 12 yr old boy elderly woman
Updated: 2020–10–18
A resident being brought out of the building on Friday night
KOLKATA: The late-night at a mixed residential building on Ganesh Chandra Avenue left two residents — a 12-year-old boy and a 65-year-old woman — dead and five others injured. The fire raged for over five hours before it could be brought under control in the early hours of Saturday by 14 fire tenders and 150-odd firemen.
Around 200 others living in the eight-storey building, called ‘Moon House’, either saved themselves by jumping to the terrace of the adjacent building with the help of locals or were rescued by firemen, cops and disaster management group personnel.
Police said 12-year-old Unais Rahman, who lived on the seventh floor, had ensured a safe passage for his father, mother and eight-year-old brother to the terrace of the adjacent building, but he himself slipped and fell through the three-foot gap between the two buildings. He was taken to SSKM Hospital and then to a private nursing home where he succumbed to his injuries.
Another resident, Samima Begum of sixth floor, too, could not make it to the terrace even as her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter moved up the smoke-filled staircase. She locked herself in the washroom of her apartment with the shower running. By the time firemen reached her, she had already choked to death.
A joint probe by the fire department, Bowbazar police and forensic experts revealed that the fire started at the meter box tucked away under the staircase on the ground floor and spread rapidly to the upper floors via the staircase and the lift shaft. Since the building has a single entry and exit point, residents couldn’t use the staircase and had to escape to the upper floors and the terrace.
“I was in my room when I heard people screaming. I came out and found our floor on fire. There was no way we could move downstairs. We rushed upstairs and then climbed on the water tank and then somehow jumped to the terrace of the adjacent building. It was very scary but that was the only way we could survive,” recounted second-floor resident Rakesh Chowtala.
According to initial findings, the fire was accidental but there was no fire-fighting system in place at the building and “several initial symptoms of wires internally weakening” were ignored.
“The fire broke out on the ground floor after repeated short circuits weakened the wires and heated them up. At least eight two-wheelers parked near the source of the fire provided the petrol vapour that allowed the fire to become more devastating,” said a forensic expert. Since the second and third floors mainly had shops and trading units, most lights were switched off and the devastation was minimal on these floors.
State fire minister Sujit Bose, who supervised the rescue operation till late in the night, lauded the effort of the fire department in rescuing the residents. He also promised a high-level enquiry into the reasons behind the fire.
“There is no fire-fighting measure inside the building and the electrical meter box has been installed in such a way that an accident was just waiting to happen. We have written to the CESC to immediately shift the meter boxes. We are waiting for forensic opinion before we decide on lodging a complaint against the building’s owners and managers,” said Jag Mohan, director general of Fire services.
Built in the early 1940s, the building has a single entry-exit point with the meter box under the staircase. “As per new building rules, electrical meter boxes are no longer allowed under staircases. There are 100 odd old buildings in the city with similar violations. We will run an inspection in all such buildings shortly,” said state urban development minister Firhad Hakim.
Web Source: The times of India