Bandra blaze: A close shave for 84

Mumbai: Around 84 people were rescued after a major fire broke out at the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited’s (MTNL) telephone exchange building in Bandra around 3.10 pm on Monday. Only one injury was reported: a fireman, Sagar Salve (25), who experienced suffocation while dousing the blaze, was admitted in Bhabha Hospital.

Though the fire did not affect the floors where switch rooms and test rooms are located, telephone connectivity in some part of Bandra was affected.

The fire had started on the ‘second and a half floor’ where the accounts office is located and by 4 pm it was declared a level IV blaze. Fourteen fire eng-ines, seven water tankers, a quick response vehicle, three turntable ladders and ten ambulances were rushed to the spot. By late evening, the fire was brought under control. It is likely that the fire was caused by a short circuit.

Chief fire officer P.S. Rahangdale said, “Sixty people were trapped in the building. It is one of the successful fire fighting operation in recent times. About 160 breathing apparatus were used and 90 to 100 people have been rescued from the terrace using turntable ladders. The fire fighting operation is still on.”

Some employees had run down themselves before the fire brigade arrived.

The telephone exchange  is a nine-storey building of the Central government where more than 200 employees work at a time. The building also has few official quarters on 2nd and 3rd floor.

Arun Kini, an employee, who works in the test room, said, “I work on the ground floor. Some said there was a fire due to a short circuit in the air conditioner in the accounts office on the second and a half floor. We went upstairs and rescued 30 colleagues from the first and second floor via the main staircase while many escaped by the fire exit staircase. Many locals came to our help too. However, many employees on uppermost floors ran to the terrace. The fire brigade rescued them and all my colleagues are safe.”