How glass-facade of Thane building almost became a death trap

Firemen had to fight for more than five hours to douse a midnight blaze that broke out in the 16storey Dev Corpora building in Khopat Thane The incident exposed the dangers of modern architecture with shared ducts quickly spreading the smoke across several floors and the glass facade trapping it all inFormer Maharashtra Fire Service Director Prabhat Rahangdale emphasised that the National Building Code requires onethird of a glass facade buildings area to be openable for ventilation during a fire ldquoIn this particular building the smoke became trapped because there was no way for it to escape which also posed challenges for firefightingrdquo he saidFirefighters had to break the glass facade to allow the smoke to move out of the buildingArchitect Rahul Kadri pointed out that glass facade buildings offer very limited space for ventilation Even the windows that can be opened usually cant exceed 30 per cent of their capacity preventing smoke from escaping during a fire Properly openable windows would prevent smoke from getting trapped inside the building he explainedOne of the fire officials noted that although the building had windows designed for ventilation they were shut because the offices were closed ldquoThe smoke generated by the fire accumulated inside the office and later spread throughout the building We had to break the windows to allow the trapped smoke to escaperdquo the official addedThe incidentThe fire occurred on the 11th floor and trapped ten people all of whom were successfully rescued by the fire brigade Yasin Tadvi chief of the Regional Disaster Management Department of Thane Municipal Corporation explained ldquoThe fire was small but the smoke spread through a viaduct across the building Dense smoke creates a challenge in firefightingrdquo The cause of the fire remains undeterminedThe fire broke out in the Jijau Foundation office on the 11th floor around midnight on Tuesday Sachin Sharma secretary of the Dev Corpora Premises Cooperative Society said ldquoTwo firemen on duty saw the fire They assured no one was trapped but it was difficult to locate the fires source because of the smokerdquo The Thane Fire Brigade responded quickly and began their rescue operation ldquoOur firemen saved several people from the eye hospitalrdquo added Sharma noting that the buildingrsquos internal firefighting system was functionalWatchman Jabbar Sheikh 52 from the Santati Test Tube Baby Centre was rescued from the first floor while nine people were evacuated from the eye hospital on the seventh floor Those rescued included Baby Sheikh 65 Wasim Sheikh 42 Aman Sheikh 18 Suresh Sawant 71 Indumati Chandmare 60 Chaya Gangurde 60 Sarika Vandre 33 Devyanti Gupta 60 and Malti Warise 62Chief Fire Officer Girish Zalke said ldquoDense smoke made firefighting difficult We had to break some glass panels to allow the smoke to escape The internal firefighting system was operational and our investigation is ongoingrdquo Deputy Police Commissioner Subhash Burse said that while the investigation continues a short circuit appears to be the likely causeThe fire was extinguished by 4 am on Wednesday with the fire brigade using three fire vehicles one rescue vehicle and other equipment Cooling operations continued until 9 am According to society secretary Sharma most offices resumed work but the elevator power supply remained off due to water damage during the firefighting effortsPast incidents of fire in glass facade buildingsLotus BusinessPark FireJuly19 2014A major fire erupted on the 21st floor of Lotus Business Park Andheri and spread to the 20th floor Firefighters were promptly dispatched to extinguish the flames Tragically one firefighter lost his life and 20 others were injured during the sevenhour operation The intense heat caused the buildingrsquos glass faccedilade to melt with falling shards landing on a nearby eateryrsquos rooftopRolta Technology Park FireFebruary 13 2020A fire broke out at Rolta Technology Park located in the Marol area of MIDC Andheri East Firefighters successfully rescued 25 people from the glass faccedilade building The operation was challenging due to thick smoke trapped inside the structure exacerbated by the buildingrsquos glass exterior1150 pmTime the fire broke out on Tuesday night in Dev Corpora near Cadbury junction off EEH4 amTime on Wednesday firemen doused the blaze and completed rescue ops