Second fire within 2 days at Khar bldg
No injuries reported; short-circuit suspected as the cause even as probe is underway; this is the 3rd incident at the building in a year
The seven-storeyed residential building Notan Villa in Khar West witnessed a second fire incident within a week on Saturday. However, no injuries were reported. The earlier incident took place on Thursday in which four persons were injured.
This is the third time a fire has broken out in the building in a year. In September 2021, a major incident was reported and 40-year-old resident Hema Jagwani had lost her life; she had succumbed to suffocation after getting stuck on the topmost floor.
According to the BMC’s Disaster Control Cell report, Saturday’s fire was reported from a house on the third floor at 1.25 pm. The fire brigade categorised it as Level-1 incident, though five fire engines were rushed into operation and firefighters took three hours to douse the flames.
Chief Fire Officer Hemant Parab said the entire building has been evacuated after the Saturday incident.
He said, “We have relocated all the residents and disconnected the electricity and water lines. We are carrying out a full-fledged investigation to ascertain why so many fire incidents are being reported from this building. I will get the report on Monday.”
Fire brigade officials who were present during Saturday's operation said that the blaze had erupted between the third and fourth floors and could have been caused due to short-circuit.
An official said, “The previous incidents were also caused because of shortcircuit. After Thursday’s incident, our investigation was underway and the residents in their statement told us that sparks were seen in the electrical duct of the building.”