[Samurai]

When I first heard about people jumping, I thought the Fire brigade was holding those nets underneath. What a trajedy... I used to often visit there to eat at TGIF and Indi Joe.

[Guite]

Originally Posted by mkh

never said that evacuate cars ahead of people- do we want 1000's of liters of fuel sitting there waiting to explode in case of a fire? A building needs to be evacuated completely in case of any mishap.

Human life above all else. Property comes later. Just evacuate all human beings in the shortest possible time. Even in a well planned parking, evacuating all cars will take so much time majority of the drivers/car owners will be just waiting to be baked inside their car. In the time taken to rush to the basement (mostly) parking, a person will be (or rather should be) safely away from the burning building. No countries' fire code specifies evacuation of vehicles, AFAIK.

Back on topic, from the few photogrpahs I have seen the gathered crowd could have been a hindrance to rescue effort. What's the observation from members who saw first hand.

[Nitin]

Things wouldn't have gotten out of hand had there been some quick work by the traffic police.The fire brigade would have taken less time to get to the building, if the information about the fire had been spread, allowing a clear path for the fire trucks to gain access to the building. As for the crowd, why weren't they asked to disperse, or atleast move back a few hundred yards? A few good samaritans did what they could, and more lives were saved. God help the other high rise buildings!I hope atleast now they improve the quality of fire drills and get people to be more serious at attending such drills.

[Jaguar]

Exactly my point http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1749137-post60.html
Until I reached some 20 meters near the building, I had no clue of the mishap. And from the location from where I was coming from, I know there are 3 different routes where the traffic could have been diverted. There was a big traffic jam in Indiranagar 100ft road, but not a single cop to manage anything.

[shankar.balan]

Lack of adequate training on Fire Drills.
Builders openly flouting the safety laws and no enforcement of said safety laws. Human life is regarded as cheap in our country.

Ref Malls in my opinion the safest one is probably Forum.
All the remaining ones - Garuda,Sigma, Total, Big Bazar etc are chaotic. One would not wish to be caught in a stampede in any of the above though.

Originally Posted by Ranjan Sharma

Hi, I don't know which Malls you guys are referring to. I have been to all the malls and find adequate safety in-case of fire,Emergency Exit, Fire Extinguishers,Sensors.. etc etc that is one of the biggest reason for safety is why we have escalators now, and less lifts. Please elaborate 'why' you say something 'bad' enough. Probably there would be something not safe enough and I need to be aware of.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Lack of adequate training on Fire Drills.
Builders openly flouting the safety laws and no enforcement of said safety laws. Human life is regarded as cheap in our country.

Ref Malls in my opinion the safest one is probably Forum.
All the remaining ones - Garuda,Sigma, Total, Big Bazar etc are chaotic. One would not wish to be caught in a stampede in any of the above though.

+1 to that. Only the Forum, I have seen is equipped to handle fire hazards. I have seen them do fire drills as well. Never even heard about others attempting one.

Also even I initially assumed that fire brigade was holding a safety net. Is this never a part of a plan?

[mkh]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

I passed through the IRR flyover at 5:45 PM and I would blame the police for not managing people and traffic. I was coming from Jeevan Bheema Nagar via New Horizon School and there were even heavy vehicles including BMTC buses which were traveling along the same route. I feel the police should have diverted all vehicles from the 100ft road itself. The initial stages of diversion I saw was near nandini restaurant, under the flyover. That means all the roads leading to the flyover were jam packed. There was no way any fire tender or ambulance could have reached the place with all this traffic. The condition of other approach roads were similar.

Also, I believe there should be awareness among public on how to act in case of any accident. It feels like everyone wants to see the drama, but no-one is interested to take part or let others take part and help

We are totally under equipped to handle any emergencies, so no use blaming. I have seen N number of times an ambulance trying desperately to make its way through traffic and none seems to care. Even those who do- like me, where do i go and give way is the question?
If at all the rescue operations want to reach, they are handicapped and the police is inadequate to handle people. We do not have basic education on how to act in panic situations. Schools are where basic training is given on fire drills. The office where i work, once a YEAR we have a drill and that too is taken like a walk in the park with 50% people hardly caring. What if a real situation happens? I hope this wakens up some people from their slumber and authorities look at enforcing safety standards in the plethora of buildings we have in BLR to start with where blue chip co's house their fancy offices.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by Nitin

Thanks for the info,Sir.
As it stands, I don't think any of these individuals were related to my acquaintances. I'll pass the names along, just in case.
Thanks once again. I really appreciate it!

Not a problem @Nitin. Glad to know none of them were related to you.

We can expect more drills this year in our offices due to this incident.
People don't seem to care much. Accha one more thing is that, the stairways and exists are chocked to capacity in these drills. Once a real life scenario hits these exits and stairways, panic will kick in and I'm afraid more will die in a stampede rather than the actual fire itself.

[ajmat]

The biggest Frie Trap is the PU building on MG road - no one can approach beyond third floor.

If you note most new high rises need to have a helipad on top - ITC Gardenia, UB City, Sky Gardens

BTW -all the big dogs were there investigating this morning and the press wolves were outside

[s3va]

A very haunting feeling to know that such a disater occurred at a very frequented place !

May the souls RIP and wish the injured a speedy recovery !

Lets take the fire drills conducted at our workplaces a little more seriously henceforth !

[Torqy]

Originally Posted by Ranjan Sharma

Hi, I don't know which Malls you guys are referring to. I have been to all the malls and find adequate safety in-case of fire,Emergency Exit, Fire Extinguishers,Sensors.. etc etc

@Ranjan, you're an optimist which is good.
The disadvantage about all the safety stuff is that you'll never know whether its good until the first emergency. Not that anybody wants to find out.

Its the same with SRS, ABS, XYZ etc. You won't even know whether it WILL work when needed.

-- Torqy

[Spitfire]

Counselling sessions have been arranged in our office for all employees traumatised by yesterdays incidents. Attendance is low and the mood is quite sombre.

[Gansan]

Is there any sabotage angle to the fire accident?

A fire drill should be held at regular intervals for all people working in high rise buildings. This will avoid panic during real fires.

My office is located in the sixth floor of our own building. There used to be regular fire drills for us. The date and time will be informed, the fire alarm will go off at the stipulated time and we had to evacuate the building through designated routes. Employees whose seats are up to a particular location should use the main staircase and others to take the rear stairs, and it will be dinned in to our heads that lifts must not be used. Sometimes it will be simulated midway that one of the staircases was unusable and everyone will have to take the alternative one. And once everyone assembled outside, there will be a demo about how to use different types of extinguishers. For each drill six employees will be selected by rotation and they will have to handle the extinguishers as well as the main water hose. My God, that hose seemed to come alive and have a mind of it's own in your hands!

Not any more! They have been stopped for the past few years, perhaps as a cost saving measure. Nowadays the only testing is during the puja performed on Friday mornings - when the agarbatthis and camphor are lit, the fire alarm goes off loudly, and we at least know that it is in good repair!

[black12rr]

Spitfire ,do you work in that building ? . Do you guys are back to work so soon ?

[Rotorhead]

I was at the flyover when this tragic incident was unfolding. I could see people clinging window sills and crying for help. What really upset was the amount of chaos the local crowd was creating. all the roads were packed with people and the folks at the flyover just parked their vehicles to get a view. A total lack of sense . The firetenders were found totally inadequate. I could see a ladder that reached only to the 4th floor. I would have anticipated more number of firetenders to be there esepcially since it was almost 45 minutes since the incident was reported when i was at the flyover. The traffic cops were not upto the mark though they were trying their best. Kudos to a guy on a scooter and a truck chap who had blocked the entry into the airport road from the flyover.

Its really sad, that so many people perished. My sincere condolences to the kin of the deceseased and the injured.