Mumbai: The 12-storey Vile Parle building where a 23-year-old domestic help and a developer’s two-year-old grandson died in a fire in a flat late on Tuesday did not have a fully automated firefighting system and only two people knew how to operate it, shows an initial probe.Fire brigade officials said the sprinklers installed outside the 11th floor flat of Shanta Bhuvan where the fire broke out failed to get activated. “The firefighting system could not generate enough power on its own and was kept in manual mode. Had the sprinklers turned on, they could have helped control the spread of the fire. The security guards, too, did not know how to operate the system,” said an official. BMC additional commissioner Vipin Sharma said only two members of the family of developer Hiren Batavia, who constructed the building and lived in the affected flat, knew how to operate the system. It wasn’t clear who these two members were.The building received its occupancy certificate in 2020.The help, Ankita Chhetri (23), and the toddler, Abir Siddharth Batavia, were found unconscious in one of the bathrooms attached to a bedroom and later declared dead. “Once the fire flared up, Chhetri moved to one of the bedrooms, where the toddler was. When the fire intensified, she took the toddler in her arms and moved to the bathroom,” said an official. Officials believe that both could have survived had Chhetri opened the sliding windows of the bedroom. Six others, including a fire personnel, sustained injuries. Around 15 occupants were rescued from the building.Hiren (64) managed to escape with his granddaughter as the fire began to spread. He raised an alarm while getting out and alerted occupants of nearby flats. The fire later spread to an adjacent flat. Abir’s parents were out on a stroll when the tragedy occurred.Parth Batavia (32), another son of Hiren, was in the bathroom of another bedroom. He failed to hear his father’s screams and realised there was a fire only after he came out of the bathroom, said a fire official. “He placed himself almost outside the large sliding glass window and near the safety grille and was able to get fresh air. Besides, he also tied a handkerchief over his face. He kept speaking to his relatives on the phone during the period. Subsequently, fire brigade personnel rescued him.”The fire brigade is yet to confirm the cause of the fire, but the family claimed that Chhetri left a hot iron unattended on a table in the hall. Officials said the fire could have originated elsewhere, possibly in an AC unit.After finding Chhetri and Abir, fire brigade personnel, led by station officers A S Khanolkar and RS Pawade, performed CPR on them. “We administered CPR continuously for about 15 minutes till they were shifted to the hospital,” said an official.
