Firefighters risking their lives; ladder can reach only up to the 30th floor

On Wednesday afternoon, a fire broke out on the 33rd floor of Beaumonde Towers in Prabhadevi. Fortunately, no one was injured and no casualty was reported. However, this incident threw light on the snorkel (ladder) which can prove harmful for firemen.

Even though the snorkel’s limit is up to the 30th floor, the firefighters were successful in dousing the fire which broke out on 32nd and 33rd floor because the tower had firefighting equipment ready.

Shiv Sena MLA Sada Sarvankar blamed the fire brigade department for giving NOCs to high-rise buildings. How will the firefighters reach the top floor in case of a fire when the snorkel can reach up to the 30th floor? questioned Sarvankar.

According to sources, firefighters cannot use the ladder of more than 90 metres because such ladders cannot stand in strong winds and this will make the firefighters' job difficult. Apart from this, the fire brigade department has 81-metre and 72-metre long technical ladders. 

Dousing a fire in a high-rise is always a challenge. If we speak about Beaumonde Towers, the building had firefighting equipment in place which helped firefighters to douse the fire. This is the reason why we used only 6-8 fire engines to douse the fire,” Prabhat Rahangdale, Chief Fire Officer.