Huge fire guts 27 shanties in Navi Mumbai slum; no one injured
Fire raged on for three hours; it broke out after some electric wires discharged sparks which fell on one of the shanties.
mumbai Updated: Mar 22, 2018 17:04 IST
A massive fire broke out in a slum near Takka village in Panvel, gutting at least 27 shanties in the early hours of Thursday. However, no one was injured in the incident.
According to the fire brigade officials, the accident took place at Vaidu Wadi slum around 11.30 pm when most of the residents were sleeping.
“The fire started at Vaidu Wadi slum around 11.30 pm. Some of the residents raised an alarm after the fire broke. Their screams woke the others up, and the residents vacated their shanties,” said Sandhya Bawankule, deputy municipal commissioner of Panvel City Municipal Corporation (PCMC).
“Fire brigade officials reached the spot within a few minutes. It took them around three hours to douse the blaze. After that, they started cooling operations,” Bawankule said.
Anil Jadhav, the fire chief of the PCMC said that the fire broke out after some electric spark fell on one of the shanties.
“The slum which is located behind the ITI College is an illegal one. There are some MSEB electric wires in the area. Due to some technical snag, one joint of the wires discharged electric sparks which fell on one of the shanties, causing fire. The fire spread rapidly to the other shanties and soon engulfed the entire area,” Jadhav said.
Four LPG cylinders exploded in one of the shanties, causing the fire to spread rapidly to the other shanties and soon engulfed the entire area.
“Four LPG cylinders kept inside those shanties exploded because of the fire. The explosions accelerated the spreading of the fire. Our officials however reached the spot on time and doused the fire efficiently,” he added.
According to the Jadhav, a total of eight fire tenders and four water tankers were rushed to the spot from the areas of PCMC, City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) , Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) and Taloja MIDC.
“After dousing the fire, the officials started cooling operations and it took them another three to four hours. The value of the property destroyed in the fire is yet to be ascertained,” Jadhav said.
Neelam Mane, police sub-inspector of Panvel city police station said, “Around seven shanties of the slum could be saved. We are now writing to the MSEB to take precautionary measures so that similar incidents do not take place in future.”
“I was sleeping inside my house when I heard some noises. After I got out, I witnessed the massive fire at the other end of the slum. We then took all our belongings and went to a safe distance. Luckily, the fire was doused before it spread to our house,” said Leela Kathet, 35, one of the residents.