Mumbai fire brigade to serve notice to Vile Parle high-rise after blaze killed senior citizen

Mumbai: A day after a fire in a Vile Parle high-rise claimed the life of a senior citizen, the Mumbai Fire Brigade inspected the housing society and said it will issue a notice under Section 6 of the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006.The provision places the responsibility for maintaining fire safety systems on the owners or occupants. Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Prasad Sapkal said the society's firefighting system failed to activate automatically when the blaze broke out. "The system started functioning only after we reached the site and attempted to operationalise it. The reason the fire-fighting system did not start was because it was not primed. In high-rises, fire pumps (jockey pump, main pump, diesel pump) must already be primed. If the pump is not primed, it may run but fail to draw water, causing delayed sprinkler or hydrant activation. Ideally, it should have activated automatically when the fire began," he said.Sapkal added that no family members were at home when the fire erupted, which led to the blaze continuing to spread unchecked. "The family was alerted by someone outside the building. When the deceased woman returned, she inhaled heavy smoke and collapsed. A 34-year-old woman, meanwhile, took shelter in the duct area and managed to survive until our team arrived," he said.Locals said there was a wedding in the family and, hence, all the family members and relatives gathered on the terrace and the 7th floor of the building, leaving no one in the house. Fire officers said that while flat number 1301 had a family living in it, the other flat, 1302, had gym equipment in it. "There was a lit diya in the house, which is likely to have triggered the blaze, leading to the entire house being gutted," said an official.The exact cause of the fire, however, will be determined following a detailed investigation into the case.