MUMBAI: The city recorded its first severe fire call for the year, as the two decade old Link Square Mall located on Bandra -west Linking Road went up in flames on the wee hours of Tuesday.
As per preliminary information the blaze started in the basement where Croma the electronic showroom is located and went upto the terrace where two popular eating joints were housed. The incident was first reported to the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) at 4:11 am on April 29.
According to officials, the fire was initially classified as a Level I blaze but rapidly escalated. Within minutes, it was upgraded to a Level II fire at 4:28 am, Level III at 4:49 am, and eventually declared a Level IV fire — a major emergency — by 6:25 am. Responding to the severity of the situation, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was also mobilised on the fire brigade’s request. The NDRF team reached the site at 7:50 am to assist the operations.
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While no causalities were reported in the incident, but almost the entire structure was damaged. The neighbouring building residents were also vacated as a precautionary measure. Hours later too the residents were too worried to go inside, worried that the fire might spread and they only went back in when the firefighters told them that it was safe.
The mall build by former Bandra West MLA and cabinet minister Baba Siddique saw his son Zeeshan at the incident site constantly pushing the fire fighters to speed up the fire fighting operations to prevent excessive damage.
As expected, a large quantity of electronic items was stored in the Croma showroom. The mall also housed several footwear and clothing outlets. By Tuesday morning, shopkeepers were seen removing their belongings from the stores located within the mall. The fire remained confined to the mall premises and did not spread to the adjoining buildings.
Zeeshan Siddique said that Croma which is located on the first level of the basement and where the fire is likely to have originated were their tenants. “My father also had an office in the mall premises. The fire spread out due to the fire brigade’s negligence. We’ve been at the site since 4 a.m. Initially, there was just a small spark in the basement of the Croma showroom. We repeatedly requested more water tankers, but they lacked the necessary equipment. The rear section of the mall was still intact, and we urged them to direct water there—but they couldn’t,” he said. But fire brigade said that there was no truth to these accusations and that there were at least 15 fire engines, one robot, seven jumbo water tankers at the site.
A senior fire brigade official said the blaze likely started well before it was reported. “The ventilation in basement area is always very poor. Also there being a glass facade building till the time the glass is not broken the smoke is not able to escape. Since everything was locked up during the late-night hours, it’s highly probable the fire went unnoticed at first. It was only when flames began erupting from the upper floors that locals spotted it and alerted the fire brigade. The mall housed a large amount of combustible material—clothing, footwear, electronics—which caused the fire to spread rapidly. Late-night fires are particularly challenging to contain due to the lack of daylight, which hampers efforts to identify the exact source and extinguish it efficiently,” the official explained.
1Saif Sheikh, whose family owns the shop ‘Titu Bandra’, a small shoe shop at Link Square Mall was informed at 6am that the entire building had caught on fire. He said he has no idea what he will do and has been waiting since the morning outside the building for the fire to die down. “We were not that worried initially because the fire was in the basement and thought our shop would be safe but now “every single shop in the building is ruined,” he said.
Local resident Aftab Siddique said that I requested the police to check the CCTV footage of the blaze site. “While fire brigade was trying their best to douse the flames but because of the electronic items burning inside the flames were just erupting repeatedly. There are seven malls in this lane. Previously in the year 2015 also there was a similar fire in KFC mall.”
Many small shops around the mall such as “Fashion World Boutique” and “House Full” with owners whose livelihood depend on the daily sales of the shop were sitting hopelessly outside their shops since the police had not allowed them to open their stores due to safety issue. All of them just hoped that the fire doesn’t spread till their shops.
Timeline of the Link Square Mall Fire (Croma Showroom), Bandra West:
- 03:58–03:59 hrs – Fire call received by the Mumbai Fire Brigade.
- 04:17 hrs: First fire unit arrives at the scene.
- Fire is initially declared as Level I.
- 04:28 hrs – Fire escalated to Level II.
- 04:49 hrs – Fire escalated further to Level III.
- 06:25 hrs – Fire reaches Level IV (major fire).
Responding to the severity of the situation, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was mobilized on the fire brigade’s request. The NDRF team reached the site at 7:50 am to assist the operations.
Fire Details:
Location: Croma showroom, basement of Link Square Mall (structure includes 3 basements + ground + 3 upper floors).
Fire spread: Confined to the Croma showroom; smoke spread throughout the mall due to accumulation of heat and poor ventilation.
Firefighting efforts: Ventilation carried out by breaking the glass façade.
Equipment deployed: 15 Fire Engines, 7 Jumbo Tankers, 4 Advanced Water Tenders, 2 Breathing Apparatus Vans, 2 Rescue Vans, 2 Turn Table Ladders, 1 Hydraulic Platform, 2 Firefighting Robots, 2 Quick Response Vehicles, and a 108 Ambulance.
Past fire: July 21, 2015
Year 2015 —Kenilworth Mall Fire – Bandra West
Location: Kenilworth Mall, Linking Road, Bandra (West), Mumbai
Incident Details: Preliminary investigations suggested a short circuit as the likely cause.
Aftermath: No casualties were reported.
