Mumbai: Firefighting system of Kandivli high-rise was non-operational

MUMBAI: The fire brigade has said the firefighting system of Hansa Heritage, the Kandivli high-rise where a blaze erupted late on Saturday night, was non-operational.
Officials said this led to the rapid spread of fire across two rooms on the 14th and 15th floors of the building. A notice was served to the society on Sunday under the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006.
The blaze comes less than a fortnight of a fire in a 60-floor tower in South Mumbai, in which one was killed; in this case, the building’s fire-fighting system, although operational, did not trigger immediately.
Five persons who were rescued from the Kandivli apartment blaze by firefighters on Saturday had locked themselves in a bedroom. Two family members who died could not escape the hall-kitchen. An LPG cylinder in the kitchen exploded in the fire. The four-member Parekh family in whose home the blaze erupted lived on the 14th floor. On Saturday, four relatives were with them when the incident occurred. The two victims were Ranjanben Parekh, 90, who could move only with a walker, and her daughter-in-law Nita, who was paralytic.
Chief fire officer Hemant Parab said that a diya was learned to be the cause of the blaze, but it wasn’t confirmed yet. “We have not yet been able to record eyewitness accounts and contrary statements have been made by those who saw the blaze. We will need to investigate further to ascertain the exact cause of the fire. Those trapped in the bedroom were saved in the nick of time. The flames had crossed the door and reached the bed. As the window was open, there was an outlet for smoke.”
This Diwali, the fire brigade received 65 fire calls on account of fire-cracker-related blazes. The total number of calls was 159.
The section under which Hansa Heritage has been served with the notice says that it is the owners or occupiers' liability to provide for fire prevention and life safety measures. “Our teams reached the site and found that systems were non-operational. They tried their best to make use of water from tanks while using fire hoses to extinguish the blaze,” said Parab.