Firemen battle toxic fumes as fire safety standards goes up in smoke
Major tragedy prevented at a congested residential block
Big negligence attributed to use of floor as storeroom

Sikkim Express |www.sikkimexpress.com

Big negligence attributed to use of floor as storeroom

GANGTOK, February 17: Gangtok Fire Station bravehearts today put their lives on the line and battled toxic smoke to douse a raging fire in a residential building at Nam Nang here today preventing a major tragedy even as people here continue to neglect fire safety standards risking life and property.
The fire had broken out in the first floor of multistoried building in a congested residential area below the road side near the Kyi-De-Khang School. The building belonged to Shyam Agarwal and the floor was used by Suresh Sharma, a cloth merchant.
Though the fire is suspected to have broken out due to a short-circuit, the flames latched on a pile of garments and other materials stored in the two rooms of the floor and raged on engulfing the rooms with dense toxic smoke and threatening to spread to the surrounding buildings.
As soon as the fire call was logged in the Gangtok Fire Station at 12:20 pm, a fire team led by station in-charge Prakash Rai rushed to the spot and launched containment measures.
Moments later, another fire tender tore away from the station to assist the first team and slithered the long hose to the spot from the narrow alley. A team of Gangtok Sadar Police Station also assisted the fire personnel in the fire-fighting operation and controlled the crowd which had gathered at the spot.
With the fire raging and threat of exploding the LPG cylinders, the dozen fire personnel first attacked the fire standing in the first floor border rims of the building from both sides. It was a risky measure as a slip from the rims could have sent the firemen crashing down to the concrete steps.
But the firemen persisted, quickly controlled the flames and barged into the first floor to wipe out the remaining fire. At the same time, a couple of firemen brought out the gas cylinders from the building so as to prevent an explosion.
Inside the room, the toxic smoke was more dangerous than the fire. The room was totally engulfed in smoke with almost zero visibility. Despite this, the fire team went about its job and snuffed out the fire after almost one hour of intense fire fighting.
Major damage was done in the two rooms which were storing garments and other materials. The garments stored in the rooms were reduced to plastic waste resulting in around Rs. 2.5 lakhs loss to the cloth merchant.
Sikkim Fire and Emergency Services Director, IG Akshay Sachdeva who was also at the spot lashed out against the practice of using residential buildings as storerooms. Though the cause of fire will be found out later, there has been a big negligence on the part of the persons staying in the building by using the rooms as storerooms of various items, he said.
“How can a residential building be used a storeroom which not is dangerous for the tenants but also for the people living nearby?” said Sachdeva. “It should not have been done in public interest,” he said.
The IG complimented the firemen and police for timely action and preventing a major tragedy though people continue to be negligent. He directed the senior fire officials and Gangtok Sadar police station to form a committee and study the cause of the fire in including a probe on the storeroom practice and submit a report.
Speaking to reporters, Gangtok Fire Station in-charge Prakash Rai said that there was a dangerous situation at the building when the first fire team reached the spot. “There was a raging fire and a dense smoke and we first responded from both sides of the building,” he said.
“As soon as we controlled the blaze, we made a direct entry to douse the remaining fire,” said Rai. He said that the team had to face irritable dense smoke due to the burning material inside the room.
SDM Gangtok Dr AB Karki who was also at the spot during the fire-fighting operation thanked the fire-fighters from the side of the administration for controlling the fire.
Karki also appealed the people in the capital to adhere to fire safety regulations as to difficulty in reaching timely help in the narrow, congested residential areas. “If people don’t follow fire safety regulations, lives would be at risk,” he said.
The SDM also said that a residential building cannot be used as a godown and action will be taken against such buildings by the administration.