No casualties: Firefighters battle ferocious Techno City blaze for over five hours

LG minister announces provision of snorkel, 10 fire tenders to KMC

KARACHI: The city's commercial hub, II Chundigar Road, was in a state of panic on Monday morning as the 17-floor Techno City building was partially engulfed by a blaze.

The building is home to the offices of a private media group, two banks, a mall of computer accessories and other private companies. The fire, according to a representative of one of the associations of the building, Techno City Corporate Tower Association, Muhammad Najeeb, started at around 5am in the basement after a brief power outage.

At around 5:30am, when the fire intensified, the security guards and some of the night shift staff realised there was a fire in the building. Thick grey smoke gradually engulfed the building's parking area, which stranded the staff at the 16th, 14th and 13th floors.

Smoke was believed to have billowed through the duct system. The fire exit system was apparently non-functional or the staff present was unaccustomed to using it.

Two staff members of a private TV channel were taken to a hospital to be nebulised after being rescued. Nine fire brigade vehicles, one snorkel and Navy personnel were deployed to extinguish the blaze.

Around seven cars at the second-floor parking were completely burnt. The communication wires, which are commonly known as internet wires, along with the electric wires were blazed. After an effort of more than five hours, the fire was finally brought under control by noon, according to Chief Fire Officer Tehseen Siddiqui.

According to an anchorperson at the TV channel, Shahzeb, who was working in the building during the night shift, the fire started from the basement and gradually spread to the ground floor. "We were on the 15th floor when we heard a few explosions," he said, adding that they rushed down the stairs to the ground floor at around 10am. "We covered our faces and rushed down," he said.

The TV channel's technical manager, Muhammad Shahid, was however, rescued at around 1:30pm through a snorkel from the second-floor parking area. Shahid claimed to have used the fire exit passage to reach the parking area. "We were shutting down our equipment and transferring our signals to Lahore, which was taking time," he said. The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) rescue team, he said, was ill-equipped. "When the Pakistan Navy's rescue team provided them [KMC] backup, they sprang into action," said Shahid.

Building structure and associations

The building is divided into three portions, each of which is looked after by a different association - the Corporate Tower with the offices of the private TV channel and two banks, the Office Tower with the offices of a private FM channel and other offices and a mall in the third portion. According to Shahid, the fire broke out in the Office Tower.

He said fires have broken out in the Office Tower several times in the past, but this was the first time it spread to the Corporate Tower.

Disregard for regulations

The Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations, 2002, call for mandatory fire resistance and precautions for buildings, which were apparently not installed in the building.

According to the regulations, all ground-plus-three buildings should have standpipe systems, sprinkler systems and proper exits. The fire department of the KMC has to certify the buildings' fire safety precautions. Meanwhile, the civil defence department has to conduct regular inspections.

According to the Sindh Building Control Authority's bylaws, all ground-plus-three storey or above buildings, which are more than 43 feet tall, should be provided a standpipe system set. The bylaws further call for installation of automatic and manual sprinkler systems. The Techno City building, according to Najeeb, has no automatic sprinkler or alarm system. "Even the fire exit was made a few years back," he said.

The bylaws state that at least one manual extinguisher should be available on each floor at stairway landings and in corridors at each lift or group of lifts in residential and commercial buildings.

An interior fire alarm system should also be installed in hotels, motels and dormitories higher than one storey with a capacity of 50 or more occupants. All hospitals and institutional buildings accommodating more than 20 occupants above ground should have an interior fire alarm system. All school buildings with a provision of more than 30 students above the ground floor, mercantile buildings, factory buildings and cinemas, theatres and similar public assembly places should have this alarm system installed.

LG minister's response

Meanwhile, Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani has announced that the Sindh government will provide a snorkel and ten fire tenders to the KMC fire brigade in a few days.

He directed the District South deputy commissioner to chalk out a detailed survey of the building and submit a report to him about the fire. Speaking at the fire site, Ghani said all the people stuck [in the building] due to smoke had been rescued.

He admitted that it was the responsibility of the civil defence department to ensure that all buildings and warehouses are equipped with fire extinguishers and have the necessary equipment to put out a fire.

Mayor Wasim Akhtar said that there was no passage in the building for smoke to pass through. "The building has been sealed from all sides," he said, adding that it is also the responsibility of traders to take necessary measures for their own safety. He also pointed out that the generators inside the building were full of diesel and could have potentially sparked the fire.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2018.