Fireman, firefighting robot rescue 84 MTNL officials from burning building

MUMBAI: On July 22, a massive fire broke out in the third and fourth floor of Mumbai’s Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), located in Bandra West at around 3 PM. According to Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor, preliminary investigations have showed that the fire was caused by a short circuit. A team of 175 firefighters and 40 laborers led a timely organised rescue operation and rescued all of the 84 people trapped on the rooftop of the building.
As many as 14 fire engines, seven water tankers, three turn table ladders, 14 ambulances and a firefighting robot was rushed to the MTNL building. The robot, which was recently procured by the department, is capable of releasing 3,800 liters of water in just a matter of minutes. It can also trace the exact source of the fire and can enter small spaces to extinguish flames. Rescue operations continued till late in the evening and the firefighters managed to rescue every person stranded on the rooftop by 6:45 pm.

“The entire building was smoke logged, making firefighting operations very challenging. All people who were trapped on the rooftop were evacuated using our turntable ladders,” said P Rahangdale, chief fire officer. He also highlighted that the fire was extinguished from a total of seven points around the building. He said that their reinforcements could not reach the spot because of the vehicles parked on approach road leading to the building. “Managing the crowd was another challenge.”