Goregaon fire: Had firemen reached sooner, lives could have been saved

After a massive fire claimed the lives of seven residents of the Jay Bhavani building in Goregaon Westmdashincluding three women and two childrenmdashearly on Friday morning eyewitnesses claimed that tragedy could have been averted had the fire brigade not taken 40 minutes to reach the sceneOver 60 people were admitted to various hospitals after the fire broke out on Friday While 47 are stable five are critical two were discharged and eight have been discharged against medical adviceThe deceased have been identified as Nand Bhojiya 50 Vishnu Alle 45 Susai Rajan 31 Prerna Bhembare 19 Tisha Chougule 18 Diya Bimar 12 and Rinkle 3Vishal Rathod a resident who escaped with a few injuries to his hands said ldquoMy wife two children and I were sleeping inside the kitchen in our home on the first floor My parents and brother were in the hall I heard a scream and ran to the kitchen window Smoke was coming inside I opened the main door and fumes entered the house I ran down with my wife and kids My threemonthold son inhaled smoke It was a doordie situation I along with my family ran through flames and came outsiderdquoThe remains of Jay Bhavani building in Goregaon West on Friday PicsAnurag AhireHarikesh Gupta who resided on the first floor of B wing along with his wife two children parents and brother said ldquoAs soon as we got to know about the fire we somehow managed to escape My entire house has been guttedrdquoBuilding layoutThe A wing of the building where the fire broke is an SRA building and is almost attached to the B wing which faces a road The A wing was constructed in 2007 and received an OC in 2014Kiran Tushamad who lost her 12yearold cousin Diya right Vishal Rathod who escaped with minor injuriesThe B wing which has sellable houses was built around eight years ago Around 50 twowheelers and four to five fourwheelers were parked in the A wing parking lotNo one exactly knows where the fire started According to the preliminary investigation a short circuit is responsible Some however claimed that one of the vehicles parked at the ground level caught fire and it spread due to the presence of bundles of clothes The flames reached the second floor of the building and even the first floor of the B wing was guttedNeighbours terrifiedThe incident has left the residents of neighbouring structures in a state of shock and fearKiran Tushamad who lives in an SRA building next to Jay Bhavani said ldquoAround 230 am we heard screams My father woke me up and said there was some chaos in the adjacent building where my uncle and his family live When we rushed there two of my male cousins had come out and we saw thick black smoke everywhere The fire brigade and rescuers found my 12yearold cousin Diya lying on the floor unconscious She was declared dead The entire family is in the ICU of RN Cooper hospital including my uncle and his wiferdquoldquoThe building has only one exit The entire structure was covered in smoke and it was dark she addedManish Chaturvedi who resides on the 23rd floor of the neighbouring Sunrise Tower said ldquoI thought a fire had broken out in our building but after looking out of the window I saw flames and smoke coming out of the adjacent one I called the fire brigade at 306 am We feared the flames would reach our building After about 40 minutes the fire brigade arrived Had they come sooner many lives would have been savedrdquoThe Goregaon fire station is at Motilal Nagar 15 km awayChaturvedi said ldquoResidents were screaming lsquobachao bachaorsquo for more than an hour It was heartwrenching Many tried to help them but the flames were so high that common people couldnrsquot do anythingrdquoGood SamaritanSanjay Tushamad a local social activist who helped mobilise help and rushed many victims to hospital in his own ambulance told midday ldquoAs it took too long for the fire brigade to reach some of us living nearby initiated the evacuation Individuals inside the building were in a frantic rush to escape the darkness and smoke Many had been asleep when the fire broke out which resulted in their inability to exit promptly We were able to assist numerous residents but regrettably a few lost consciousness and the escalating smoke and flames prevented us from accessing the upper floors of the engulfed buildingFire brigadersquos accountAccording to the Mumbai Fire Brigade the fire was confined to groundfloor shops scrap parked vehicles a meter cabin plywood a staircase and household articles and doors on the upper floors The fire was extinguished at 7 am with the help of six hose lines and eight motor pumps ldquoMany residents were stranded on various floors and a terrace More than 30 persons were rescued from various floors by firemenrdquo said a fire official7amTime on Fri when fire was put out03Age of youngest deceasedDeaths and injuriesAt least 42 people were admitted to the trauma centre of these six were brought dead four are critical and five discharged Three are admitted in Kasturba Fifteen were admitted to Cooper hospital in Parle of this one woman was declared dead nine people are stable and four discharged Eleven people have been admitted to three private hospitals