At least four people were burnt to death and two others injured, all of them friends, when fire erupted at a commercial plaza in Blue Area near Lal Quarters intersection on Monday. The six friends had planned to spend a night together at a travel agency office in the building.
Fire erupted in the basement of Fayyaz Plaza where Rehman Travels and Tours office is situated. the fire erupted at 3:30am giving no chance to the people to escape. The raging flames spread to the first floor of the building and damaged some shops before it was brought under control.
While passports and other goods at the office turned to ashes. The rescue teams shifted the injured to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and Polyclinic Hospital. Eye witnesses and shopkeepers blamed the “casual style” of rescue operation for the loss of lives. Fire brigade and Rescue 1122 teams reached the site late and started the rescue operation very late, witnesses told The Express Tribune.
The officials of Kulsoom Hospital also confirmed that rescue teams could not be contacted on official phone numbers on time and they reached the site late. According the rescue team, the fire was caused by a short circuit and fire brigade brought the fire under control after a hectic effort.
Almost all the plazas in Blue Area have no emergency entry or exit points and loss of precious lives has taken place in such situations in the past as well. However, the Capital Development Authority’s bylaws that define safety measures in buildings have been blatantly ignored in such cases and the practice continues without any measures by the authority to address the issue,” said an official.
A few days before the incident, the fire department had informed the officials about violations in the bylaws of the Building Control Act by many plaza owners. The rescue teams also said they faced difficulties in getting access to the top floors of buildings and there were no clearly marked entry and exit points, delaying rescue work. Chairman CDA Imtiaz Inayat Elahi also announced buildings control codes to ensure safety.
A similar incident happened on January 16, when the fire erupted from the fourth floor of a five-storey building, Beverly Centre, at some time between 8:00 to 8:30pm and engulfed the top floor within “minutes” and gutted around 10 shops. The reason was also stated to be short-circuiting.
This was stated in the internal report of the Rescue and Fire-Brigade of the Capital Development Authority (CDA). It also conceded that delayed response by fire-fighters aggravated the situation.
Showing resentment, the traders said their property could have been saved had there been a timely response from the fire department. A majority of the shopkeepers blamed an old generator, for causing the fire that engulfed the entire fifth floor of the centre in Blue Area.
A senior fire officer told The Express Tribune that the fire brigade could not reach the fifth floor of the plaza due to lack of skill and equipment.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 7th, 2011.
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