How panic inside Mumbai's Coastal Road tunnel delayed emergency response

After receiving hundreds of calls related to tree collapses over the past few days the Mumbai Fire Brigade was alerted by South Mumbaibound motorist Sudhir Nair on Wednesday afternoon that a fire had broken out in his car in the Coastal Road tunnelldquoThe control room immediately notified the Worli Gowalia Tank and Nariman Point fire stations and dispatched fire engines to the spotrdquo said SD Sawant deputy chief fire officer The Worli and Gowalia Tank personnel couldnrsquot reach the spot before their Nariman Point counterparts as they got stuck in a traffic snarl caused by panicked motorists who abandoned their vehicles in the middle of the tunnelThe Maruti Suzuki Ignis in which a fire broke out inside the Coastal Road tunnel on Wednesday afternoon PICSBy SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTNarendra Bachhav station incharge of Nariman Point fire station the first fire officer to reach the vehicle said the fire engine could not enter the tunnel from the Chowpatty end as traffic had come to a standstill ldquoWe therefore decided to approach the spot from the Nariman Point side even though it meant moving against the flow of traffic Every minute mattered because a vehicle fire inside a tunnel can quickly create panic due to the accumulation of smokerdquo said BachhavThe vehicleNarendra BachhavThe situation was relatively under control when the officers and engines reached the burning vehicle ldquoThe fire had remained confined to the car which fortunately was not an EV electric vehicle That made firefighting comparatively straightforward as we did not have to deal with the risks associated with EV battery fires We quickly brought the blaze under control and ensured there were no flareups before declaring the area saferdquo Bachhav saidThe responseFlames erupt from a car after it caught fire inside the tunnel of the Coastal Road on Wednesday PICPTIA total of three fire engines one jumbo tanker a breathing apparatus BA van and one quick response vehicle QRV were deployed ldquoThe department has provided all the necessary firefighting systems throughout the tunnel as prescribed by the National Fire Protection Association Now the tunnelrsquos engineers must clarify why these systems did not get activatedrdquo said SawantCar ownerrsquos reactionSudhir NairlsquoThe person driving his car in the lane next to us said that there was smoke coming out from the back of our vehicle So our driver immediately stopped the car on the side and we all alighted We are lucky to be alive We are not in a state to say anything morersquolsquoDonrsquot ditch vehiclesrsquoDeputy Chief Fire Officer SD Sawant FILE PICSAYYED SAMEER ABEDIAccording to Chief Fire Officer Ravindra Ambulgekar the biggest mistake on the part of commuters was abandoning their vehicles inside the tunnel and running out This caused a traffic jam Since the drivers were not reachable their vehicles couldnrsquot be moved obstructing fire engines ldquoExtreme lack of civic and common sense led to a delay in reaching the spotrdquo he saidDos and Donrsquotsgtgt Never panic help will reach you for suregtgt Ensure you make space for firefighting vehicles to reach the spot People could have started reversing their cars instead of abandoning them This would have freed the road for emergency vehiclesgtgt Try to provide first aid while keeping yourself safe till firefighters arriveAccording to Chief Fire Officer Ravindra AmbulgekarChallenges faced in tunnelAfter entering the tunnel Bachhavrsquos team faced poor visibility due to dense smoke ldquoAt one point we had to get down from the fire engine with torches in our hands and proceed guiding the driver for a short distance so the vehicle could move safely through the smoke Getting inside the tunnel itself turned out to be the toughest part of the operationrdquo Bachhav said