MUMBAI: Mumbai’s fire brigade on Saturday afternoon concluded one of their longest-ever firefighting operations when they doused the last flames of the Orchid City Centre blaze. The operation at the Mumbai Central mall took over 40 hours and nearly 230 tankers with almost 24 lakh litres of water. But this was just the first phase of firefighting, when the blaze was brought under control. The second phase, comprising cooling operations, will take another two days.
Officials have learnt that shopkeepers initially tried to douse the fire on their own and informed the fire brigade late about the incident. After cooling operations, the BMC and the fire brigade will separately examine the mall and issue a notice to its owner if any structural irregularities are found. One fault has already been found. “The firefighting system of the mall was not working. We will issue a notice to the owner about this and conduct inquiries,” said chief fire officer Shashikant Kale.
Meanwhile, residents of the adjoining 55-storey Orchid Tower want the BMC to examine the stability of their podium, which is common to the mall’s terrace. The fire brigade has informed them that it is safe for them to return home, but the residents insist that the fire brigade give in writing that the building is safe.
Samajwadi Party MLA and corporator Rais Shaikh, a resident of the tower, said, “The building’s residents in any case will not return till the mall stops smouldering. Smoke is still coming out from a part of the mall’s terrace.” He said the incident showed “complete failure of fire compliance at the mall”. “It's high time the fire brigade implemented the 2018 Fire Compliance Cell norms and put an SOP in place to improve coordination between different agencies during such incidents.”
Residents of other buildings in the vicinity faced a tough time during the fire. Farooq Kaladia, who lives in a building opposite the mall, said, “Most residents in nearby buildings closed their windows for two days as smoke reached our homes. It caused a lot of trouble to those who have health complications, like my wife, who is asthmatic.”
On the question of the mall’s shop owners, additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said, “We saved the basement and the first floor of the mall. In a couple of days, we may allow shopkeepers to collect their valuables from these floors.”
A minor fire broke out in the mall close to 9pm on Thursday. Failing to douse it, shopkeepers informed the fire brigade. Hour by hour, the fire gained in intensity, and the fire brigade had to enhance fire declaration levels from level 1 to 4, and finally to a brigade call — the most serious fire incident, requiring all possible interventions with the highest manpower and equipment deployment.