Lack of fire safety measures led to multiple casualties, claim officials

“The building did not have any of the fire safety precautions in place. It did not have a fire exit. The stairs were narrow. The first floor, where the deceased were living, did not have proper ventilation. The adjacent single-storey building was built in a manner depriving both the buildings of the required ventilation. This was why the deceased had left their windows open for want of ventilation and the fumes that engulfed their house suffocated them to death,” said a senior Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) official. Apart from lax fire safety measures, the building also lacked a watchman who could have alerted the residents of the fire. 

Devika, a resident of the third floor, locked herself up with her two daughters as she could not see through the billowing smoke, thinking that she was going to die. “My husband broke the door, threw a rope down to the next building’s terrace, and we lowered ourselves to safety,” she said. 

“None could get near the building as the fire raged. Some occupants jumped down to the adjacent building’s terrace to escape,” she added.

“We have registered cases under 174 of the CrPC to investigate the multiple casualties. We would expand our scope of investigation after getting the details of the alleged building violations. A forensic investigation has been carried out on the fire. We are also examining the culpability of the landlord in this incident,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (T Nagar) P Saravan told DTNext. 

The violation on the rules in keeping livestock in a residential building is still being investigated. 

While three horses were rescued soon after the fire broke out, one of the two cows perished in the fire. 

Terming the incident as unfortunate, Assistant Commissioner of Police, M Annadurai, said that the family would have survived if not for the fumes, since the fire was controlled in the ground floor itself by the TNFRS personnel. “The death must have been instant as the fumes high in carbon content would have deprived the deceased of their oxygen,” he noted. 

The building, which was constructed encroaching upon the government poromboke land, belonged to Vijayakumar, who is an office bearer in the ruling AIADMK’s unorganised sector workers’ unit.

Vijayakumar, who also lives in the fourth-floor of the building where the fire broke out, was learnt to be vacationing with his family in Puducherry. The police had told him to appear before them for interrogation.