The incident took place in Block-A of the society.
The residents of Saya Zenith, a high-rise apartment in Indirapuram, had a tough time following a massive fire which broke out in a flat on the 18th floor of Block-A on Wednesday.
An elderly couple named Shiv Kumar Kanodia (61) and Usha Devi (58) were present during the incident.
Puja Goyal, daughter of the victim who lives in the opposite flat, narrated the ordeal to City Spidey, “Dad was leaving for office when he came rushing to my flat saying there is a fire in his flat. Without any delay, I called maintenance through intercom but they took time to reach as they were ill-equipped. However, housekeeping team, led by their team lead Sonu did a courageous job, risking their lives and doused the flames with whatever was available – water, fire hydrants and extinguishers - at that moment.
Though the officials from the fire department claimed they doused the fire within 15 minutes by 1 pm after they received the information at 12:30, the residents, however, refuted it saying the fire was contained and doused before they reached.
“Moreover, the fire tender did not have the facility to reach the 18th floor,” they added.
The residents blamed the poor upkeep of the fire safety equipment which prolonged the operation.
“Fire alarm didn't work when the fire broke out. Also, the sprinkler initially. When we started yelling and questioning the maintenance department, it was turned on! It would have been disastrous had we not contained and doused it on time,” Goyal said.
Talking to City Spidey about the incident, Nitin Agarwal, secretary (AOA) said, "Since last four months, we have been sending letters to the Ghaziabad Development Authority, requesting them to review the fire fighting system through the third party. They are yet to respond."
When City Spidey queried with the facility management regarding these allegations, the management acknowledged it and cited maintenance work behind the failure of alarm.
"We are in the process of cleaning the nozzles of all smoke detectors. This is why it didn't set off," said Pradeep, estate manager of the society.
Pradeep claimed the work of the maintenance of the smoke detectors started a week back. However, he did not specify when it will be completed.
Besides, he refuted the allegation about the delay in the functioning of the water sprinkler.
“The fire was caused due to a short circuit in a running air conditioner installed in one of the rooms of the flat. A few residents have verbally complained to us about flaws in fire safety at the spot. We will investigate,” said SN Singh, fire officer.
Meanwhile, City Spidey tried to contact the builder via calls and emails in this regard but no response has been received yet.
