‘Sobo bldg didn’t have fire safety equipment, compliance docus’
MUMBAI: The 14-storey Las Palma building on Little Gibbs Road, near Hanging Gardens in Malabar Hill, where a major fire broke out on Wednesday, neither had a fire safety compliance certificate nor any fire safety equipment, said fire brigade officials. A fire official from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that the building had applied for the certificate a fortnight ago, but the fire department had refused to issue the same and asked the building members to first take certain steps like repairing dysfunctional fire pumps.
Devpriya Kanoria, secretary of Las Palma Housing Society, said: “We have already initiated the process and kept all things ready as per the fire norms. But if the fire department is asking to do something more considering safety then we are ready to do that.”
Fire officer SD Ubale of the Gowalia Tank fire station said the blaze on Wednesday night could not be controlled immediately as there was no firefighting system in the premises. “Firefighting pumps in the building were not active, as a result of which the fire brigade had to take more efforts to extinguish the blaze,” he said.
According to the preliminary investigation, a short-circuit on the fifth floor of the building appears to have led to the fire. However, the fire department is waiting for a detailed inquiry report to arrive at a final conclusion.
The fire official from BMC cited above said Las Palma building had already initiated the fire audit procedure. The official said that a fortnight ago, the department had received Form B — a request to conduct fire audit and issue fire safety compliance certificate — from the building. All commercial and residential establishments have to submit Form B twice a year to get fire safety clearance from the fire brigade.
However, the fire department had refused to issue the certificate and asked the society to take certain steps. “We asked them to repair dysfunctional fire pump systems in the building. We also asked them to install firefighting systems on every floor of the building,” said the official.
The fire brigade had rescued 17 people from the building on Wednesday night and three firemen had sustained injuries.
According to the fire department, the fire broke out on the fifth floor at around 7.56pm, and quickly escalated to a level 2 fire at 8.10pm. It further escalated to a level 3 (major fire) at 8.26pm. The fire spread rapidly owing to wooden furniture, electric wiring, electric installations, household articles, documents, furniture, etc, said fire officials.