Vertical development grows, but fire safety standards not met

MUMBAI: What was the difference between the fire at 32-storey Beaumonde Towers in Prabhadevi in June and Wednesday’s blaze at Crystal Towers in Parel? In case of the Prabhadevi incident, a robust internal fire-fighting system helped avert a tragedy, ensuring there were no casualties, whereas four residents of the 16-storey Parel building died, as it did not have even a functional fire-fighting system.

As Mumbai sees more vertical growth, ensuring fire safety in tall buildings, where firefighting from outside is tough, has emerged as a major challenge. Crystal Towers did not have fire alarms, fire exit or a refuge area. P Rahangdale, chief fire officer, said, “When the building’s internal fire-fighting system does not work, we have to rely completely on the fire brigade’s equipment. The major challenge on Wednesday was to carry all fire-fighting resources to the upper floors.”

This was in sharp contrast to Beaumonde where the fire brigade relied on the building’s riser system.

Another hurdle was the design of Crystal Towers, which was not done keeping fire safety in mind. An open electrical duct in the centre of the building soon turned into a chimney carrying smoke to the upper floors of the building. The duct should have been sealed at every floor using fire-retardant material, but it was modified with decorative laminated material and PVC sheets, which instead aggravated the fire and smoke.

The fire brigade brought four turntable ladders to the spot – 27m, 37m, 55m and 90m high – to the spot. R Chaudhari, deputy chief fire officer, said, “Builders and residents take fire safety lightly, not realising the risk to people’s lives.”

Prakash Devdas, president of fire brigade officer’s association, said, “There is a need to ensure strict implementation of fire safety rules by the administration. The only way to ensure fire safety is to have a strong and updated internal fire-fighting system.”

After December’s Kamala Mills fire that claimed 14 lives, the civic body created 34 special fire compliance cells tasked with inspections of buildings for fire safety. At least five high-rise buildings are to be inspected every month, in addition to daily inspections done by the 34 compliance cell officials. Until June this year, the fire compliance cell inspected 3,151 buildings, at least half of which were found to be non-compliant.