Make in India blaze: Loopholes emerge in fire brigade's explanation

The Mumbai fire brigade has submitted its report on the Make in India fire at Girgaum Chowpatty stating that the likely cause was a lsquoDefective Electric Circuitrsquo However midday spoke to an expert who found several loopholes in the fire departmentrsquos version to which fire chief Prabhat Rahangdale gave his responsesCFO P S Rahangdale said he was among the first on the ground to respond to the crisis with an extinguisher File picNo fire auditFire report statesThe Mumbai fire brigadersquos report on the Girgaum Chowpatty fire makes no mention of any fire audit conducted before the event The only mention is of an No Objection Certificate NOC of fire safety measures filed on February 11 On February 13 a second inspection was undertaken jointly by the divisional fire officer a representative from the organiser Wizcraft and officials from the BMC Dward disaster management department local police and the Confederation of Indian Industry Following this six lapses were pointed out in writing to the commissioner of police and also to the organiserExpert questionsApart from the two letters no other audit or compliance report was furnished by the fire department It is surprising that even after a copy of the NOC was submitted on February 11 and a written joint inspection report was submitted two days later neither the fire brigade nor the police department bothered to check whether the organiser complied with the instructions given to them Experts who went through the reports claim that merely writing a letter and raising objections does not amount to an audit This step should not have been skipped especially when the event was to be attended by important dignitaries Experts also pointed out that pyrotechnics also count as fireworks so they shouldnrsquot have been allowed at the stage areaFire chief defendsChief Fire Officer Prabhat Rahangdale However insisted that the NOC given by his department was as good as a fire audit A second inspection was also carried out two days after the NOC and lapses were pointed out to the organisers in writing To achieve ease of business the authorities have moved to a single window clearance system and under this it is obligatory for the event organisers to produce selfcompliance to the appropriate agencies traffic local police ward office etc Firecrackers that were close to the stage were shifted towards outside the barricades by the organisers as per our recommendation Also during the reinspection no LPG cylinders were seen at the venueInstructions ignoredFire report statesThe Fire NOC dated February 11 clearly states under point number 13 that lsquoDisplay of Fire Crackers shall not be allowed inside or near the pandalrsquo In addition the report from the February 13 joint inspection clearly highlights six instructions mainly to remove all combustible material away from the stage to ensure stage construction material is made fire retardant and to replace expired fire extinguishers at the site see boxExpert questionsThis cannot be called a fire audit as these were merely observations made by the divisional fire officer in a joint inspection the day before the event None of the concerned authorities to whom the letter was marked had bothered to check for compliance before the event started on February 14 Had they done so the disaster could have been avertedFire chief defendsAs far as fire department is concerned we have adhered to the procedureSince firecrackers were objectionable they were shifted outside the venue Firecrackers are different from pyrotechnics which were allowed The requirement for fire retardant materials was stated in the NOC and it was the duty of the organisers and set designers to carry out selfcompliance Violation of the same is an act of negligence on their partWere electricals certifiedFire report statesPoint number 18 in the Fire NOC reads ldquoThe entire electrical installation shall be carried out by licensed electrical contractors and a certificate to that effect shall be obtained from him said contractorrdquoExpert questionsIt was mandatory for the electrical contractor to get the electrical circuits rechecked at the venue before the start of the event by competent government agencies The cause of fire has been ascertained as lsquodefective electric circuitrsquo but the fire report is silent on whether any such certification was doneFire chief defendsThis requires selfcompliance the certificate was expected to be submitted by the said contractorsorganisersCause of fireFire report statesThe fire department stated that Defective Electric Circuit DEC was the likely cause of the fire Officials went through several video clippings of the fire and recorded statements of various witnesses including fire officials who stated that the electrical contractor had installed 22 generator vans and provided backup switchesgears and various types of cables and panels and supplying electric power from the BEST meter to the main stage and hangers for various equipment The electrical cables wires installations were laid down around the stage in a haphazard manner BEST Undertakingrsquos deputy chief engineer S K Patil stated that after the fire a fuse installed at tower no 6 was found to have blown out Therefore there is every possibility that a spark from the electrical wirings came in contact with combustible materials underneath the stage Hence supposed cause of fire is derived as DECExpert questionsThe licensed electrical contractor Ismail Babu Shaikh in his statement had nowhere mentioned any indication of an electric short circuit He also did not mention whether he had observed any power failure due to the alleged electric short circuit Just like the fire departmentrsquos report the electrical contractorrsquos statement also does not mention whether the circuits were rechecked by competent authorities approved by the stateMoreover BEST official Patilrsquos statement does not clarify whether the fuse box blew out before or after the fire Neither has he mentioned the location of tower 6 in relation to the stage where the fire broke out Not a single witness has come forward acknowledging any shortcircuitFire chief defendsI was an eyewitness to the fire and was among the first on the ground to respond to the crisis with an extinguisher Tracing the manner in which the fire spread we decided to probe circumstantial evidence witness accounts the possibility of defective pyrotechnics and we also reassessed all statements from fire officials finally concluding that the fire was due to DECThe highly combustible materials only aggravated the fire aided by strong wind6 instructionsgtgt There will be no display of fire crackers behind the stage and combustibles will be kept at a distance of 30 feetgtgt The material used for temporary erection of stage shall be of noncombustible type or treated with fire retardant paintgtgt The combustible materials stored underneath the stage shall be removed immediatelygtgt Paints adhesive materials stored for decoration shall be removed immediatelygtgt Ten carbon dioxide cylinders compressed noticed near the stage shall be shifted immediatelygtgt Expired fire extinguishers shall be replaced immediately and trained personnel shall be deployed to use them