際際滷

際際滷Share a Scribd company logo

Case study mantralaya

Amit Prakash
Amit Prakash

The fire at Mantralaya, the government headquarters in Mumbai, broke out on the 4th floor on June 21, 2012. Five people died from smoke inhalation and burns, while 14 others were injured. The fire spread to the 5th and 6th floors, destroying important government records and departments. An investigation found the fire was likely caused by a short circuit in the air conditioning system. A structural audit found the building structure was still sound. However, the fire spread due to a lack of fire safety measures mandated by law, such as sprinklers, smoke detectors, and a communication line to the fire brigade. Lessons from the incident highlighted the need for all government buildings to strictly follow fire safety codes and have disaster

1 of 6
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 Honble CM and Honble 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 weeks 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 governments 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 anyones 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, 22nd June.

More Related Content

Case study mantralaya

  • 1. The Mantralaya Fire, Mumbai 21st June, 2012 A Case Study BIHAR STATE DISASTER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY 2nd Floor, Pant Bhawan, Patna -800001
  • 2. 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.
  • 3. 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 Honble CM and Honble 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 weeks time.
  • 4. 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 governments 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 anyones control.
  • 5. 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
  • 6. 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, 22nd June.