29 March,2026 08:34 AM IST | Mumbai | Eshanpriya MS
Not all towers can be reached via ladder. Representational pic/Satej Shinde; (right) The Mumbai fire brigade showing off their trucks at Grant Road during fire parade. Representational/File pic
To address fire safety amid the spurt of highrises across Maharashtra, the Government of Maharashtra's Urban Development Department on March 13, 2026, issued a Government Resolution directing all municipal corporations to upgrade their resources to fight highrise fires. As the first go-to solution, the state government has directed all municipal corporations to have at least one tall ladder in every fire station.
But will procuring ladders be enough to put out fires in the city that has nowhere to go but up, resulting in buildings that climb up to 80 floors? The new ladders, too, can only go up to approximately 35 floors.
Like the old adage goes, it takes money to stretch your arms in Mumbai. This is also the reason why Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had little to no choice in approving buildings as high as 250 meters in height. And this is also why the Mumbai Fire Brigade is considering procurement of a 104 m ladder for fire fighting.
At present, the tallest ladder in Mumbai is 90 metres tall, which can scale up to 30 floors during fire rescue operations.
Experts have noted that taller ladders are not the only solution to fighting highrise fires. With an annual budget exceeding Rs 150 crore over the past three years, leading to the Mumbai Fire Brigade has the resources and continues to upgrade them periodically to fight highrise fires. An official said, "Even a 104m ladder will be able to tackle fires up to only 35 floors. So we have to have other robust mechanisms to fight high rise fires on taller floors."
Moreover, the height of tall buildings is not the only challenging aspect of fire safety in highrise buildings in Mumbai. An official said, "Every fire starts out small but the response time is important to contain the fire. In such a case, the first responders are usually the occupants of the building themselves. They also serve as an operational internal fire fighting system."
A senior official of the Mumbai Fire Brigade said, "We have mooted the proposal to procure a 104m turn table ladder to fight fires in Mumbai. A decision will be taken about its procurement and tenders will be floated after studying all aspects, such as availability of open spaces around buildings and feasibility of its use. There is no doubt that Mumbai needs a tall ladder. Their present tallest ladder in Mumbai is 90 metres."
Another official said, "Even a 104m ladder will be able to reach up to only 35 or 40 floors. So we depend on the highrise building's fire fighting system for response. However, in several cases we have noticed the fire fighting system is not operational and maintained."
2200
Number of under construction buildings in Mumbai
High rise Height: Between 60 and 80 floors
'BMC official from Development Plan Department
104 M
The height of the new ladders
Vilas Nagalkar, Mumbai-based architect, who is a member of Practising Engineers, Architects and Town Planners Association (PEATA)
"There are two main challenges in fire response and rescue for highrises:
. The fire escape area is often encroached by occupants.
. Interior decorators tend to make structural changes to a flat's internal fire-fighting system, making it ineffective in case of any emergency.
Both these things should be avoided."
"Several changes in the way a building is now constructed from a fire safety point of view have helped. Provisions have now been made to change the elevation of the corridor and fire evacuation lift. The lift is now constructed at a higher elevation, after it was noted that water pumped by the fire brigade from windows seeps through the door of the flat into the common area, clogging the fire evacuation lift. There are up to four instructions to prevent spreading of a fire from a household into the common area, and subsequently, the evacuation area, which are all in the form of fire-retardant doors."
According to recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affair's standing fire advisory council, the fire brigade's response time should be five minutes in urban areas, and up to 20 minutes in rural areas. The fire brigade upgraded its infrastructure and constructed mini fire stations to bridge the gap between main fire stations. It also procured several mini fire tenders for quick response.
Challenges with infrastructure: The 104m ladder has a width of 17 m and a turn radius of 24 to 28m, which can prove challenging to deploy in some cases because of road construction work, narrow roads, and parked cars taking up space.
Case study: There was a fire in Beaumonde Towers in Worli in 2018. A former official of the Mumbai Fire Brigade pointed out that despite having the 90 m ladder handy, the fire brigade could not use it above 30 floors.
The former official said, "There was no space for the vehicle to turn. We realised the podium was getting in the way, and the podium itself would not have the load-bearing capacity to support the vehicle."
Anywhere above 2 to 7 minutes after emergency call, without traffic
Mumbai Fire Brigade's budget (over 3 years)
2026-27 Rs 230.9 crore (allocated)
2025-26 Rs 111.68 crore (revised)
2024-25 Rs 159.91 crore (revised)
1) Turn table ladders of 64 metres, 40 metres, 32 metres, 30 metres
2) Mumbai's tallest turn table ladder of 90 metres height (upto 30 floors of a building)
3) Fire-fighting robots imported from France
4) Mini water tenders with water mist technology to tackle fires in densely populated and slum areas with narrow roads
5) Quick response vehicles
1) Five new high-rise fire-fighting vehicles
2) Four more first response vehicles, especially commissioned by the fire brigade which have a hydraulic platform of 24 metres tall
3) Eleven of first response fire engines with advance technology which can deliver water vertically upto 250 metres
4) Four support vehicles with high pressure water pumps and lighting arrangement
"Maharashtra is undergoing rapid urbanisation. As per the national standards, due to the shortage of fire stations, fire and rescue vehicles and trained manpower required for fire fighting services, the response time for fire fighting and rescue work is maximum five minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in rural areas."
