Ahmedabad: The disturbing visuals from the Atreya Orchid apartment building in Hansol showing a woman leaping off a balcony will haunt the people of Ahmedabad for days to come. The woman succumbed to her injuries in hospital hours after the massive blaze in a fourth-floor flat in Block D. Her desperate leap has exposed critical gaps in emergency response capabilities, especially in densely built structures and has led to conflicting accounts about the circumstances leading to her jump.
Residents claim that the fire brigade, with a snorkel and other rescue equipment, had reached the spot, but the snorkel could not reach the higher floors from the society’s main road. The vehicle was thus forced to take an alternate route causing a precious 10-15 minutes to be lost. And it was during this time that the trapped woman jumped in a bid to save herself, they said.
Witness and resident Hitu Bhai said, “Firefighters had reached the spot with a snorkel. Our society has two entry points. A narrow turn ahead on one of the approach lanes made it impossible to bring in the equipment. It had to be brought in from another route, during which the trapped woman jumped. She was advised to wait for 10 minutes, she jumped out of panic. Firefighters rescued other trapped individuals.”
Requesting anonymity, a fire brigade official said, “The fire brigade reached the site with an 82 aerial ladder platform and emergency rescue tender, but locals were encouraging the woman to jump onto mattresses before the rescue operation began. The woman jumped before the fire brigade could start the rescue operation.”
Scars of Shahibaug fire resurface
At 7.28am on Jan 7, 2023, the Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services received a call about a blaze in B/73, a seventh floor flat in Orchid Green Field in Shahibaug. According to Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the fire brigade reached the scene at 7.37am. Despite this, Pranjal, a 17-year-old resident of the flat, who had sought refuge on the balcony died allegedly due to the fire fighting team’s negligence. The team had initially arrived without a hydraulic platform, or snorkel. It was summoned later. This incident, a video of which went viral, raised serious questions about how the brigade dealt with such calls and led to a vigilance probe against the personnel ordered by then municipal commissioner M Thennarasan. Two years on, the probe drags on with no action against those behind the lapse.