11 firefighters injured while trying to control the flames

Thiruvananthapuram: Tuesday’s fire at Chellam Umbrella Mart posed a few challenges to the firefighters and as many as 11 firefighters sustained injuries while fighting the flames.
“The major challenge was access to the area where the fire broke out. We had to improvise on the spot to find our way into the showroom,” said district fire station officer K Abdul Rasheed. The two shops that caught fire were not opened for the day and the firefighters had to force their way into the buildings. That was when some of the officers suffered injuries. Some others got injured while trying to get close to the source of the fire through the roof of the buildings nearby.
The storage areas of the two shops were located in the centre of the block of buildings. “Every time our officers cut open a way to get close to the fire, it resulted in more air flow, causing the flames to grow further. This was how most of our officers suffered burn injuries,” said the officer.
One officer, Sudheesh Thomson of Thiruvananthapuram station nearly suffered a cardiac arrest. The 37-year-old collapsed on the spot and was rushed to the General Hospital where tests revealed that cardiac abnormalities following which he was advised to take rest for five days.
There were 17 shops and seven residential buildings in the same block, adjacent to the Chellam Umbrella Mart and the priority was on containing the fire from spreading to other buildings. Hence the first responders broke open the shutters of the two buildings, entered inside and started fighting the fire.
“Our risk paid off, as none of the other buildings in the vicinity suffered damages. No civilian casualties were reported either,” said Thiruvananthapuram fire station officer G Suresh Kumar.
The other officers injured are Sunil Kumar, Arun Lal T, V Santhosh, Shaheer M S, Anil Kumar S, Vishnu V Nair and Arun R of Thiruvananthapuram station, Rajesh Kumar of Nedumangad station and Adarsh Nath M L of Kazhakkoottam station.
Director (technical) R Prasad, regional fire officer M Noushad and DFO K Abdul Rasheed led the operations.