Thane high-rise fire: Residents recount terrifying escape from Carlyle building blaze

Residents of Carlyle building in Thanersquos Wagle Estate told midday that they were fortunate to have escaped with their lives after a ferocious blaze broke out in the 17storey structure in Raheja Gardens a residential enclave housing over 350 flats on Sunday nightpopcorn number230 am descTime fire was doused on Monday classDefaultThe fire which originated in the electrical duct of the building rapidly surged between the 7th and 14th floors filling corridors with blinding toxic smoke and trapping between 40 and 50 residents inside their fiveBHK apartmentsA rescue operation by the Thane Municipal Corporationrsquos TMC Regional Disaster Management Cell RDMC Thane Fire Brigade and specialised units from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC stretched into Monday before the blaze was doused at 230 amThe reception area of the building which was partially gutted in the fire PicAbhitash SinghWhile human casualties were averted the building suffered massive internal destruction The common electric duct and corridors were gutted while the doors electrical wiring and interiors of multiple apartments were charredBiPAP miracleAmong those rescued was a fragile senior citizen hooked up to a BiPAP oxygen support machine As smoke began infiltrating his apartment panic set in Firefighters and emergency responders acted swiftly navigating the smokefilled stairwells to carry him to safety where paramedics administered onsite first aidFor others the brush with death came inside descending elevators ldquoWe were stuck in the lift The power got cut and smoke started seeping in We were lucky to be rescued in the nick of timerdquo a young resident of Carlyle building said on the condition of anonymityThe Carlyle building in Raheja Gardens PicAbhitash SinghldquoOn Monday I along with my mother and sister are going up to inspect the flat to see what can be salvaged and then begin shifting our belongings Fire brigade vehicles were parked inside the complex doing cooling operations till late eveningrdquoCause being probedThe Carlyle building houses 34 flats home to business families A battery of ministers MPs and civic brass descended upon the compound around midnight to monitor the evacuation Among those present at the spot were Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde MPs Naresh Mhaske and Dr Shrikant Shinde local MLAs Ravindra Phatak and Niranjan Davkhare Thane Mayor Sharmila Pimplolkar Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Rao and District Collector Dr Shrikrishna PanchalMore than eight fire engines skylifts hydraulic platforms from Mumbai water tankers and seven ambulances were pressed into action ldquoThe cause of the fire is still being probedrdquo RDMC Chief Yasin Tadvi said Chief Fire Officer Girish Zalke remained unavailable for commentBlanket banThane District Collector and District Disaster Management Authority Chairman Dr Shrikrishna Panchal on Monday slapped a total districtwide ban on airborne rockets and projectile firecrackers from 1201 pm on November 9 till 1159 pm on January 8 2027Voices of concernShahid Khan Dream Paradise Ulwe residentlsquoWhen a fire erupts in a highrise your staircase turns into an industrial chimney within minutes In vertical living the real killer is the blinding smoke and toxic gases trapped in common corridors and ducts If external glass faccedilades donrsquot open and internal duct dampers fail you are effectively trapped on an island hundreds of feet in the air Most highrise residents never think of smoke hoods or fire drills until the alarm goes offrsquoSuraj Rajput Daffodil Ulwe residentlsquoThe moment a duct catches fire we realise we are living inside vertical tinderboxes with no emergency exit We invest crores in sky villas yet our lives end up dangling on whether a hydraulic ladder can reach our floor or if our lift power holds up for sixty seconds Highrise safety in our cities cannot remain a paper NOC it is the barrier between a dream home and a concrete incineratorrsquo