Risking life is an essential part of the job of a fire fighter. But after a devastating blaze in a building in Mumbai's Kalbadevi neighbourhood on Saturday killed two senior fire officers and left two more critically injured, many firefighters are indignant about how public carelessness often compounds the dangers they face when responding to the call of duty.
The blaze in Kalbadevi’s 50-year-old Gokul Niwas building was triggered by a short circuit. The flames spread over all five floors of the structure and raged on for eight hours, eventually causing the building to collapse. While the handful of residents in the building were rescued, four fire department officers had to face the consequences – station officer Mahendra Desai and assistant divisional fire officer SW Rane were crushed death when one of the building walls collapsed on them, and the city’s chief fire officer Sunil Nesarikar and his deputy S Amin suffered severe burns.
Rane and Desai were cremated with state honours on Sunday, while Nesarikar and Amin are still battling their injuries at the National Burns Hospital in Airoli.
As with every major fire in a metro city, questions have been raised about the efficiency of disaster management, the equipment available to the forces and the lack of fire safety in various urban structures.
In the case of the Kalbadevi fire, the discussion has been dominated by the complete disregard for fire safety – on the part of the public as well as the municipality, of which the fire brigade is a department.
A huge concern
Gokul Niwas, like scores of other buildings in the congested areas of Kalbadevi and Bhuleshwar in southern Mumbai, was predominantly a commercial building with several clothing shops and goldsmith workshops crammed into its small rooms. The stock of cloth and chemicals provided plenty of fuel for the fire to last for hours.
Fire department officers have claimed that Mumbai’s municipal corporation ought to have been prepared for this kind of an accident: in 2001, they had audited Kalbadevi and alerted the civic officials about a host of hazardous commercial activities that were unsuitable for old buildings in a congested area with narrow roads. The municipality has evidently been unable to crack down on such activities in the past 14 years, but experts point out that citizens are just as responsible, if not more.
“As firemen, we have to accept the challenges posed by traffic, congestion and a high population, but public apathy is a huge concern,” said P Rahangdale, a deputy chief fire officer who has taken charge of the force in the absence of Nesarikar and Amin. “People in this city make illegal alterations to their buildings and stuff them with combustibles. Even with the best of equipment, we cannot help these things.”
Mumbai’s buildings are notorious for failing to do fire audits, and the consequences are evident in statistics: since 2009, the city has reported 21,379 cases of fire, which have claimed 1,481 lives and injured more than 5,000 people.
“When a new building is made, it is the corporation’s fault to make sure that a fire safety audit is done before the structure is licensed, but after that, annual audits are the responsibility of citizens,” said IC Sisodia, a disaster management expert and a former vigilance officer with Mumbai’s municipal corporation.
Curious onlookers
Rita Savla, founder of Radhee, a disaster management advocacy forum, points out another aspect of public apathy that fire fighters regularly have to deal with: curious bystanders.
“People have a very careless approach towards safety and emergencies," said Savla, who has known Nesarikar, the injured chief fire officer, for ten years. "Often, when there is a building collapse or fire, it takes a long time to just get curious onlookers out of the way so that fire trucks can reach the spot."
“The fact that the chief fire officer and other senior officers went right into the Kalbadevi site to inspect it reflects greatly on their bravery and leadership – they must be saluted,” said Savla. “But if they can be so brave, why can’t the public cooperate?”
The blaze in Kalbadevi’s 50-year-old Gokul Niwas building was triggered by a short circuit. The flames spread over all five floors of the structure and raged on for eight hours, eventually causing the building to collapse. While the handful of residents in the building were rescued, four fire department officers had to face the consequences – station officer Mahendra Desai and assistant divisional fire officer SW Rane were crushed death when one of the building walls collapsed on them, and the city’s chief fire officer Sunil Nesarikar and his deputy S Amin suffered severe burns.
Rane and Desai were cremated with state honours on Sunday, while Nesarikar and Amin are still battling their injuries at the National Burns Hospital in Airoli.
As with every major fire in a metro city, questions have been raised about the efficiency of disaster management, the equipment available to the forces and the lack of fire safety in various urban structures.
In the case of the Kalbadevi fire, the discussion has been dominated by the complete disregard for fire safety – on the part of the public as well as the municipality, of which the fire brigade is a department.
A huge concern
Gokul Niwas, like scores of other buildings in the congested areas of Kalbadevi and Bhuleshwar in southern Mumbai, was predominantly a commercial building with several clothing shops and goldsmith workshops crammed into its small rooms. The stock of cloth and chemicals provided plenty of fuel for the fire to last for hours.
Fire department officers have claimed that Mumbai’s municipal corporation ought to have been prepared for this kind of an accident: in 2001, they had audited Kalbadevi and alerted the civic officials about a host of hazardous commercial activities that were unsuitable for old buildings in a congested area with narrow roads. The municipality has evidently been unable to crack down on such activities in the past 14 years, but experts point out that citizens are just as responsible, if not more.
“As firemen, we have to accept the challenges posed by traffic, congestion and a high population, but public apathy is a huge concern,” said P Rahangdale, a deputy chief fire officer who has taken charge of the force in the absence of Nesarikar and Amin. “People in this city make illegal alterations to their buildings and stuff them with combustibles. Even with the best of equipment, we cannot help these things.”
Mumbai’s buildings are notorious for failing to do fire audits, and the consequences are evident in statistics: since 2009, the city has reported 21,379 cases of fire, which have claimed 1,481 lives and injured more than 5,000 people.
“When a new building is made, it is the corporation’s fault to make sure that a fire safety audit is done before the structure is licensed, but after that, annual audits are the responsibility of citizens,” said IC Sisodia, a disaster management expert and a former vigilance officer with Mumbai’s municipal corporation.
Curious onlookers
Rita Savla, founder of Radhee, a disaster management advocacy forum, points out another aspect of public apathy that fire fighters regularly have to deal with: curious bystanders.
“People have a very careless approach towards safety and emergencies," said Savla, who has known Nesarikar, the injured chief fire officer, for ten years. "Often, when there is a building collapse or fire, it takes a long time to just get curious onlookers out of the way so that fire trucks can reach the spot."
“The fact that the chief fire officer and other senior officers went right into the Kalbadevi site to inspect it reflects greatly on their bravery and leadership – they must be saluted,” said Savla. “But if they can be so brave, why can’t the public cooperate?”
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