MUMBAI: The four senior fire officers who lost their lives fighting the Kalbadevi blaze earlier this month were victims of an accident, the panel investigating the fire has said. In its report, the panel clarified that it was not a miscalculation by the officials and that they did not enter the building, as has been alleged.
The officers were standing at the entrance of the building, when a part of it, weakened by the fire, came crashing down on them.
Chief fire officer Sunil Nesarikar, deputy chief Sudhir Amin, assistant divisional officer SW Rane and station officer MM Desai died battling the fire that broke out in the Gokul Nivas residential building in Kalbadevi on May 9.
Initially, there were allegations that the officials had entered the building, even though there was no one to be rescued.
Firemen and experts had criticised the officers for going in, and ignoring warnings from their colleagues.
But a highly-placed source in the fire brigade department told HT: “After talking to all officials involved in the fire-fighting and to people who were at the spot, it was found that the four officials, including Nesarikar, were standing at the entrance of the building. They were discussing a plan to control the fire as an LPG cylinder had burst on the upper floors.”
“Suddenly, a part of the building collapsed on them. This left Sudhir Amin, Rane and Desai trapped under the hot debris. Nesarikar managed to make his way out immediately,” the source said.
The seven- member panel has submitted its report to additional municipal commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee, who will forward a detailed report to municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta next week.
The committee’s report also talks about the fire brigade’s response time, the lapses in the fire-fighting and recommendations on how the fire department can be improved.
No comments:
Post a Comment