GURUGRAM: There was a fire in the kitchen of a restaurant in
Omaxe Celebration mall on
Sohna road on Sunday afternoon, after cooking oil caught fire and spread to the chimney, which had gathered soot, said fire safety officials.
A distress call went out to the fire control room at 2.15pm from Cocktail Bar and Lounge on the third floor of the mall at Subhash Chowk. According to fire fighters, what had started off as a small fire in the kitchen had quickly spread to the upper partition of the floor.
According to fire safety officer I S Kashyap of the Sector 29 fire station, two tenders were dispatched from the Sector 29 station and two from the Sector 37 station, along with a hydraulic lift. They reached the spot within 5-10 minutes and controlled the fire.
The call to the fire station was made after the mall's fire officer had tried using the existing fire fighting mechanisms inside the mall but failed to control the fire.
"We though managed to bring the fire under control by using the existing mechanisms, including sprinkler and hydrant," said Kashyap. However, in the process, they detected a major loophole. The mall's side lane, meant to be reserved for fire tenders and where the hydraulic lift was placed, was jam packed with parked vehicles.
When they couldn't operate the lift, fire officials took to the stairs to reach the fire. "If the fire had escalated, this could have been a major concern," said Kashyap, adding mall authorities will now be sent a notice, and their fire
NOC could also be cancelled.
It emerged the fire had started when a dish was being tempered. Water in the tadka masala caught fire when it hit the oil at high temperature, and quickly spread to the chimney, which had carbon deposits in its inner surface due to lack of cleaning that caught fire, Kashyap said.
The fire was brought into control without any injury or significant damage, officials said.
The fire NOC issued to the mall could now be cancelled
