Tragedy averted: Three people injured in fire at Century Tower

Some people trapped on the fourth floor, where the fire erupted, were rescued.

LAHORE:

Several people had to be rescued and three were injured in a fire that broke out at an office in the Century Tower near Kalma Chowk on Tuesday.  Inventory worth hundreds of thousands of rupees burned down in the fire.

Rescue-1122 spokesperson Jam Sajjad told The Express Tribune that that they had received a call about the fire at around 9:30am. All four floors of the plaza were engulfed in thick smoke and the shops in the building had to be evacuated.

At least two women and four men were trapped in the building. They sat on the window ledges and called for help. There were heart-rending scenes in front of the building as the families of those trapped in the building cried and prayed for them.

Muhammad Muneer, manager of the tenants’ union at Century Tower, told The Express Tribune that there was a loud bang on the fourth floor of the building and smoke began billowing from the windows of an office. He said the people in the building panicked when they heard those on the fourth floor scream. People on the rest of the floors evacuated the building quickly, he said.

The fire fighters reached the scene within no time and managed to prevent the fire from spreading. Sajjad said 17 fire fighting vehicles and 100 Rescue-1122 officials took part in the rescue operation and evacuated Jameel, Abbas Ali, Saad Ali, Madiha, Sadia and Furqan from the building.

The officials said that Madiha, Sadia and Jameel had suffocated due to thick smoke and were given first aid. They were later taken to Services Hospital. Two people received minor burns while trying to evacuate those trapped in the building, before the fire fighters arrived. All those injured were taken to Services Hospital where doctors later said they were out of danger.

A turn-table ladder was used to evacuate those trapped in places where the fire fighters couldn’t reach without dousing the fire first. Many of those rescued needed treatment for shock.

Rescue officials said that the fire had erupted at the Leads Group of Colleges’ head office due to an electric short circuit. It took the Rescue-1122 officials half an hour to put it out. They broke the windows the fourth floor and sprayed the walls with a coolant.

Traffic was blocked at Kalma Chowk for over an hour as scores of vehicles and motorcycles stopped in front of Century Tower.

DCO Ahmad Javed Qazi also reached the scene and supervised the rescue operation. He also formed a seven-member committee to probe the cause of the fire, evacuation facilities, and Rescue-1122’s response. The committee members visited the building later and spoke to witnesses, Rescue-1122 officials and those evacuated. Model Town Assistant Commissioner Tariq Chandio told The Express Tribune that the report will be presented to the DCO in 24 hours.

Another member of the committee told The Express Tribune that the fire had been caused by an electric short circuit. Many traders at the building said they blamed the Traders Union’s president Haji Muneer Riaz for allowing the incident to take place.

They said Riaz had not paid their apprehensions regarding fire safety measures seriously.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2014.