Blazing inferno in business park; fireman injured

A blazing inferno broke out at a premium commercial building in southeastern Bengaluru late on Saturday night but a tragedy was averted as labourers working there were evacuated in the nick of time.

However, one of the firefighters who had gone into the building to put out the blaze fell down while trying to get out through a ladder. He suffered injuries and was hospitalised but is out of danger, officials said.

The fire is believed to have started on the fourth floor of a nine-storey tower at Bagmane Solarium City, a sprawling newly-built commercial complex located near the intersection of Whitefield and the Outer Ring Road.

Fire department officials said they received a phone call about the blaze around 10.30 pm. The caller was Madharaj, a local electrician.

Firefighters rushed to the scene with a water tanker and browsers but what they saw prompted a rethink. A fire was fiercely burning on the fourth floor, and asphyxiating smoke had filled the air. It was impossible to douse the fire and stop it from spreading to other floors with the available equipment. They requisitioned two Air Ladder Platforms (ALPs).

The fire was so intense that 30 firefighters had to work nonstop for the next four hours to fully douse it. Fourteen vehicles — seven bowsers, two lorries, two ALPs, a water tanker, a breathing operator and a rescue van — were pressed into service.

Fireman Vinay Kumar, 32, went to the affected floor to put out the blaze. Though he was wearing breathing operators, he soon encountered blurry vision and difficulty in breathing. He ran to a window and screamed for help.

Madharaj, the eyewitness who had called the fire brigade, said Kumar didn’t get timely help from his colleagues. “He was desperate and jumped from the fourth floor,” he told DH.

Fire officials disputed this and claimed that Kumar was given a ladder and a rope to come down. But he lost balance and fell down from about 10 feet, suffering injuries. He was rushed to a private hospital and is stable, they added.

Fire officials suspected that the fire was caused by a short circuit.

A software company had rented the fifth floor and was carrying out interior designing work. Workers used the fourth floor to store chairs, mats, foam and other materials, which caught fire and led to the inferno.

When the fire broke out, there was nobody in the entire building except for the workers. Madharaj said he rushed to the building with some local residents and helped evacuate the workers through the staircase before firefighters arrived. He lamented that precious time was lost as he was unable to connect to the fire helpline for almost 15 minutes.

An officer from the jurisdictional HAL police station said no official complaint had been filed regarding the incident. The quantum of loss caused by the fire is still being estimated, the officer added.

District fire officer H M Sidde Gowda and other senior fire officials visited the spot and oversaw the operation.

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