The Mantralaya Fire, Mumbai

21st June, 2012

A Case Study

BIHAR STATE DISASTER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY

2nd

Floor, Pant Bhawan, Patna -800001

The Incident

The fire broke out in Mantralaya at approximately 2.40 PM on 21st of June 2012.

Preliminary reports suggest that the fire broke out on the 4th

Floor of the Main building of

Mantralaya causing 5 deaths, rendered 14 people injured, caused immense damage to the

building and loss of important government records.

Rescue Operation

BEST (agency that supplies electricity to Mantralaya) switched off the electrical supply to the

building immediately. The Fire Brigade announced a Brigade Call and 21 fire engines, 17 water

jets, 10 Jumbo tankers, 3 ambulances and 4fire engines with hydraulic platforms were made

available at the site for rescue purpose. Hospitals were alerted to be in readiness in case of any

eventualities. Two helicopters of the Indian Navy were pressed into service to evacuate those

trapped inside the building but returned without any success as nobody could be found on the

terrace of the building in south Mumbai. Contingents of the anti-terror force-Force One and

Quick Response Teams of Mumbai police assisted the fire brigade in trying to bring the blaze

under control. On a given day, Mantralaya sees approximately 3000 employees and equal

number of visitors. On the unfortunate day, as soon as the fire broke out, approximately 4000

people were immediately evacuated through different exits in the building. A total of 65 persons

who could not be evacuated earlier were rescued by the Fire Brigade.

Casualties

There were 5 deaths in total. The deceased were suffocated and charred to death. 14 persons

were partially or seriously injured. The major causes of injury were minor burns, suffocation,

inhalation of toxic gases and fracture. The injured were admitted to the city hospitals. Some were

shifted to CCU while others were discharged after treatment.

Property Damage

The fire which had broken out on the 4th

floor, spread to the 5th

and subsequently to the 6th

floor

of the Mantralaya. Different Departments had sustained different degrees of damages.

One of the worst affected departments is the Relief, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management

Department. Not only the chamber of the relief commissioner was gutted, but also the nerve

center of Disaster Management that is the EOC was totally charred by the unprecedented inferno.

The Government was quick to commence the Disaster Management coordination activities from

a temporary EOC located in the nearby office space i.e. Barrack no 08.

Photo showing the property destroyed inside the building

Some of the worst affected departments were Home, Revenue and Forest, Urban Development,

General Administration and Relief and Rehabilitation. Besides this, there were many other

departments that were partially destroyed. They included even the office of Hon’ble CM and

Hon’ble Dy CM.

The Cause

The cause of fire is still being investigated. But some of the sources claim that the fire broke out

because of short circuit followed by explosion in the air conditioning system. The investigation

is still on and the Fire Brigade Services will be submitting a detailed report in a week’s time.

Structural Safety Audit done by NDMA & PWD

A team led by Prof Ravi Sinha, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay and a team

from the National Disaster Management Authority undertook a rapid structural safety

audit.

They inspected the building on June 23, 2012 and expressed the opinion that no major

structural damage has been caused to the structure of the building which still remains

sound and safe .all structural columns and beams are safe.

The treatment required involves re-electrification, removal of newly added steel

structures on 7 floor, and inclusion of fire safety features like fire resistant coating to

partitions electric ducts and insertion of concrete blocks between office spaces to stop

spread of fire,

The Loophole

In its final report on the Mantralaya fire, the Mumbai fire brigade is likely point out that the

government’s failure to implement the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measure

Act, 2006, in its own headquarters, is one of the main reasons for the disaster.

Fire brigade officials, who met on Sunday to discuss their 12-hour-long operation and their audit

report, stated, “During our operation, we realized that nothing mandated in the Act had been

followed. There was not even a hotline between Mantralaya and the fire brigade, which could

have alerted us immediately,” (HT, June 25th

). They also added that government had failed to

install and maintain fire-fighting equipment such as smoke detection system, analogue

addressable fire alarm arrangement, fire extinguishers, sprinklers, hose reel and tank storing

adequate water, which were made mandatory by the Act. Under the Act, the fire brigade is

responsible for ensuring that all important buildings follow the guidelines. But it has no

jurisdiction over Mantralaya, which is the responsibility of the public works department.

The fire went uncontrollable because of the lack of a disaster control plan and huge volumes of

wood and paper in the offices. The excessive use of wooden partitions in the building acted as

fuel to the fire thus raging it beyond anyone’s control.

Lessons Learned

The following lessons can be learned from the mishap at Mantralaya.

1. All the government buildings, hospitals, offices etc. should strictly follow the Fire Code

and Byelaws1.

2. There needs to be a proper maintenance of all the firefighting equipment within the

building.

3. All the establishments mentioned above need to have proper fire and electrical safety

audit.

4. A proper Disaster Communication channel is a must and it should be tested from time to

time so as to respond efficiently in the Platinum Minutes2 and thus minimize the losses.

5. Government should make it mandatory for all the government buildings, hospitals,

offices etc. to have an Office Disaster Management Plan and a Business Continuity Plan

and there should be regular testing of the plans to as to keep it updated.

6. Since data is very crucial, there should be data backup best practices adopted so as to

secure the digital data by methods such as mirroring or tape-vaulting.

7. There needs to be proper training given to the employees and staffs and mock-drills need

to be conducted at regular intervals.

8. The Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) should be multi hazard resistant and there

should be alternative sites planned for the same in case there is any failure of primary

EOC.

Conclusion

It was very unfortunate and tragic that the seat of power of Maharashtra was gutted in a fire.

Though it did not cause many human deaths (compared to the number of people trapped inside

the building at the time of fire), it caused huge property damage, loss of important government

records and valuable data. Besides this, it revealed the darker side of preparedness against fire

that Mantralaya was unprepared for. The Mantralaya, the most powerful administrative and

legislative system in the state, failed to comply with the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life

1 Fire Code and Byelaws such as firefighting shaft, width of stair cases, evacuation strategies, structural safety and

services, firefighting equipment and their maintenance etc. 2 The first 10 minutes immediately after disaster

Safety Measure Act, 2006. Non-implementation of the act, weak emergency management

system, non-maintenance of firefighting system such as alarm, smoke detectors, sprinklers, hose

pipe etc. aggravated the fire response. Also, the disaster communication channel was not

effective as there was no hotline between the Mantralaya and Fire brigade and this delayed the

response by 20 minutes.

Sources: HT, ToI, Deccan Chronicle Mumbai edition published between 22nd

and 26th June, Status Report

published by R&R cell on 26th June, 1800 Hrs., Photo Courtesy: Deccan Chronicle, Mumbai Ed, 22

nd

June.