Ahmedabad: Major fire in commercial complex; over 100 rescued

AHMEDABAD: Over 100 people had a miraculous escape after a

major fire

engulfed the top floors of

Dev Aurum Commercial Complex

in the posh

Prahladnagar

area of the city here on Monday afternoon. One person, 28-year old Jitendra Panchal, who was grievously injured after inhaling copious amount of smoke, was admitted in a private hospital for treatment.


The fire is reported to have originated in the concealed electric duct of the building.

Cries of help rended the air and helplessness was writ large on faces of employees working in myriad IT, recruitment and other firms as the fire pushed them on the edge, literally. It made a heart wrenching scene as they stood on the window ledges desperately working their phones to get help. Many even broke the panels of the sun shade in their desperate quest for gulps of

fresh air

as thick smoke billowing out of the window threatened to suffocate them.

The non-functional fire safety system of the roughly five year old commercial complex rendered the buildings and its occupants sitting ducks failing to provide any instant support to douse the dangerous flames.

"The fire safety system was not working. There was a water tank in the building but it's valve was closed due to which the water could not be used to douse the fire that covered from fifth floor to ninth floor," said MF Dastoor, chief fire officer of Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES).

Fire officials said that the fire first occurred in the concealed electric duct of the fifth floor because of which the fire could not be controlled initially. The fire soon spread through duct to adjoining floors.

"Another major flaw noticed was that the electric duct was enveloped by a glass shield because of which smoke and heat got trapped and further fuelled the fire. Lack of ventilation and airflow caused concentrated smoke to get trapped in each of the floors causing asphyxiation," said Rajesh Bhatt, additional chief fire officer, AFES.

Mithun Mistry, deputy chief fire officer, said that the building had renewed its fire NOC last year which is valid till June 2019. "The fire safety equuipment of the complex however were of no use," said Mistry.

Four fire tenders were rushed to the spot and fire officials waged a battle with the fire and resultant smoke for an hour before all those trapped could be rescued and fire doused using 50,000-odd liters of water.

"Suddenly the smoke started spreading and before we could react, there was an emergency situation," said Hardik Patel, an employee of a recruitment firm located on the ninth floor.

Jasmin Patel, an employee in an IT firm on the eighth floor, said that they had become victims of negligence. "Strict action should be taken against those responsible for the fire safety lapse," a visibly upset Patel said.