Kalyan: Three flats on the top three floors of a 17-storey building—Vertex Solitaire —in Kalyan were gutted after a fire broke out on the 15th floor on Tuesday. A few people trapped on the top floors were rescued; around 25 others quickly evacuated the building.
The fire was doused more than two-and-a-half hours later. Residents said the delay was due to the Kalyan fire department not having an aerial ladder—it became non-functional a few months ago—to reach the top floors, which the Thane fire brigade had to then send. The building’s firefighting system helped put out the blaze. Fire brigade officials suspect a short in the electrical circuit started it.
The fire erupted in the flat of hotelier Santosh Shetty around 5.50pm while he was asleep. He and his family promptly left the building, but a cylinder in the flat exploded, causing the fire to spread to the higher floors. Dr Nitin Zabbak and his family, who lived on the 17th floor, activated the building’s firefighting system and attempted to extinguish it from the balcony, but the fire continued to spread. While escaping, Dr Zabbak alerted the family of Dr Sumit Srivastava on the 16th floor, who, too, evacuated promptly.
Residents alleged that the Kalyan fire brigade team was ill-equipped; it used the building’s firefighting system. Additional fire response teams were later sent from Ulhasnagar and Dombivli, but the blaze could be doused only at 8.30pm after a 50m tall aerial ladder from the Thane fire brigade arrived.
KDMC chief Indurani Jakhar and additional police chief Sanjay Jadhav supervised the operation. Jakhar said all occupants of the building were evacuated on time.
The residents’ allegation raised questions over the fire brigade’s preparedness when permission has been granted in Kalyan to raise buildings up to 40 floors.