The fire that had been burning since Friday at a shopping mall in South Mumbai was finally put out on Sunday morning. However, cooling operations are still ongoing.
The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) said the fire at the City Center Mall was extinguished at 5.08 am, 56 hours after it started. “Since there are many combustible items in many stores in the mall, such as cell phone batteries, chargers and cables, cooling operations are still continuing,” added a fire officer.
The fire broke out in a store on the second floor of the mall in the Nagpada area at 8.53pm on Thursday, as level 1 (small fire). It soon spread to other floors and the Mumbai fire brigade declared it a brigade call – level 5, an event where the fire marshal is required to be present – at 2.42am on Friday.
More than 250 firefighters and 228 tanker trucks were deployed to control the fire. “The mall is spread over a huge area, with about 400 stores on each floor. The main problem we face is that the flames from the fire fall from the ceiling, so we cannot move without restrictions to put out the fire, ”an MFB official said on Saturday. It had also pointed out the risk of explosion due to the presence of mobile batteries, chargers and power banks.
Up to six firefighters, including a deputy fire officer, were hospitalized at the city’s Nair Hospital due to suffocation.
“Prima facie, we have discovered that there were sprinklers, but we will investigate if there was adequate fire safety equipment and if they worked,” the MFB said.
After the fire escalated to level 5 onwards, around 3,500 people from a neighboring residential building were evacuated and taken to safety when thick smoke engulfed the premises of the 55-story building.
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