Pune, May 04: A major midnight blaze in Ambedkar Nagar slum left a four-year-old girl dead and four others injured from her family.
Almost 350 hutments of about 2,276 were gutted, police said. Over 25 LPG cylinders used by residents exploded, making the situation worse which could be brought under control by 26 fire tenders in three hours.
The cause of the fire was not known, police said. Residents said it could have been sparked off by members of one of the two local groups that fought with each other recently in the slums. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I) Dnyaneshwar Phadtare said so far there is no evidence to say that fire was a fallout of group clash. “But we are probing all possibilities,” Phadtare said.
Four-year-old Sanjana Vinod Dhaware died of suffocation. Her two-year-old brother Shreenath, father Vinod, mother Vaishali and grandmother Sanja received burns as the family could not come out of the hut quickly.
P D Ranpise, chief fire officer, said they got the call at 12.21 am. “Initially we sent two fire tenders. But soon we pressed all the fire tenders from various fire stations into service. Ten senior fire officers and 50 firemen worked hard to bring the situation under control by 2.25 am. The fire was completely extinguished by around 3 am.”
Lakshman Kamble, whose hut along with all his belongings turned to ashes, said, “On hearing people shout around midnight, I came of out my house and saw huge balls of fire. Intermittent blasts of LPG cylinders could be heard. I ran out of my house with my wife and daughter. Soon, the flames engulfed our house.” The story was almost the same for about 1,500 slum residents. A local resident informed the police around 12.10 am and a large police contingent, including a deputy commissioner and three assistant commissioners, rushed to the spot.
Senior police inspector Rajkumar Gaikwad of Swargate police station said, “The fire was spreading fast as the hutments were mostly made of iron sheets and included lot of inflammable material made of wood, cotton, nylon and plastic. Over 25 cylinders exploded creating a panic among residents. The police teams and fire brigade shifted hundreds of LPG cylinders to safe spots.”
“Only one family was unable to come out of their house in time. We rescued them and took them to a hospital. We managed to save lives of four persons from the family. But a young girl died of suffocation,” Gaikwad said.
Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar, Minister of State for Home Affairs Ramesh Bagwe, Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Zagade, District Collector Chandrakant Dalvi, RPI leader Ramdas Athavale, MLAs Ramesh Wanjale and Madhuri Misal visited the slums.
—-Agencies