Six Firemen and An Elevator
We decided to celebrate Diwali Festival [Festival of Lights] with my son and his family who stay across the road in a housing complex called ‘Tarangan’. This morning we were woken up by sound of some Fire Tenders rushing in. A glance at the garden from my son’s fifth floor apartment informed us that the trouble was somewhere close to us. People were gathering in the garden already and it was 5.15 in the morning.
We also rushed down to find that an apartment on the 14th floor was ablaze and two fire tenders had arrived and firemen were at work. The firemen were quick to bring the fire under control; but I could see that they were not exactly well equipped to handle a fire in a high rise apartment.
We stay at Thane which is the twin city of Mumbai. Several housing complex are being built in Thane and most of them are now rise above 20th storey. With such developments it is sad to see that some basic facilities are missing!
Six firemen who got into an elevator to reach the 14th floor, where the fire was raging, got trapped when the electricity was cut off. They died on the 14th floor, unable to come out of the elevator, and TV news reports are saying that they opened the elevator door about two inches wide only to find the carbon dioxide gas coming in to kill them!
We soon learnt that six firemen died, trapped inside the elevator. We saw the six stretchers being carried away and other firemen [by that time the fire was already controlled if not extinguished] sobbing, cameramen clicking and filming, some reporters rushing in to cover the ‘story’.
Residents of the building talked, in a hush-hush manner, that taking elevator was the wrong action [on the part of firemen] to take, aware they were of the inopportune time to make that observation. And about how the Fire Department was not adequately equipped and how the firemen were perhaps not well trained.
A deep sense of helplessness prevailed.
Seven homes were destroyed today; the one on the 14th floor and those of the six firemen. Given the lethargy of Municipal Corporation and Civic authorities in general, I will not be surprised if similar accidents repeat. How many such accidents will spur them to take some good measures is to be seen.
I pray for families of the departed souls.
Vivek
Prayers.
I remember the name-plate in Singapore Hotel reading ' Do not use lift in case of FIRE'. Quire true. The responsible parties forget…or neglect some basic safety rules. The development in Metro is not all-inclusive rather it is money oriented. Not to blame anyone this moment but we must learn lesson from this accident and know how to avoid it in future otherwise it will be only part of news….Ratnakant
It's very sad. Those firemen committed the basic error of not using elevator in case of fire. The same error was made in fire at Priyadarshini where also many firemen lost lives.
However the loss is irrepressible.
Very sad to hear this. Hopefully this will awaken those who sleep in the government..
This is very sad!! We can hope for the government to take some lessons from this!!
Dear Hobo, Anonymous, Harekrishnaji, Kavi and Swatantra:
Thanks for your comments and observations. Thanks Hobo for joining me in prayers and I hope that this incident will help Thane get a better and bigger Fire Brigade.
Vivek
dear Vivek very sad
though this fireman lost their lives
we must appreciate that they had rushed to the spot to extinguish fire
save life & property
"Hum manna rahe the Diwali
wo khel rahe the zindgiki holi"
Extremely sad to know . When will govt. take note of so many human lives being lost by carelessness and lack of training.
We have all read about this tragedy, which is all the more poignant because it was so avoidable. Now to read about an eye-witness account … it takes us close to the event. And many questions come to our mind. How could professional firemen ignore a basic instruction that is pasted next to almost every lift? Who switched off the power without checking if anyone was in the lift?
Nothing will bring the six men back, and we can hardly share the grief and pain of their families. Let us hope, although there is no reason to, that basic civic amenities will keep pace with the mad rush of urbanization that is sweeping our country.
i read about the unfortunate incident.. tht you have seen it so closely and blogged abt it makes some strange connect and makes me think about the deaths even more deeply..
Such a sad tragedy- let us hope that the govt. wakes up at least now to the need for training, etc.