The state Fire and Emergency Services department has identified several faults in Hotel Golden Parkk's electrical and central air-conditioning (AC) system which is suspected to have led to the death of two persons when a fire broke out on Thursday.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that the fire initially broke out in a kitchen situated on the first floor of the five-storeyed hotel that houses 72 rooms to accommodate boarders.
Now, a question arises as to how the fire spread to the rest of the hotel, said an officer of the fire department adding: "We initiated a probe and found that the kitchen was situated just adjacent to a passage from where electrical wirings pass by and there were several electrical appliances that look like computer servers."
The officer further said a half burnt cooking gas cylinder was also found in the kitchen and it suggests that an explosion led to the fire in which the kitchen was damaged.
It is against the fire safety norms to install electrical system adjacent to the kitchen. Moreover, the AC ducts didn't function properly during the fire. It may be recalled that in the AMRI fire incident too, faulty functioning of AC ducts led to the tragedy in which 95 people were killed. There was a minor fire in the basement of the hospital but it was the AC duct through which the flames moved up and spread to the entire building. Shafts in the AC duct didn't close as the power supply was disconnected immediately after the fire broke out allowing the smoke to fill each and every floor of the hospital.
After recollecting the AMRI incident, the officer said that in Hotel Golden Parkk too, the AC duct was not properly sealed. As a result, the smoke spread through it to all the floors.
Thursday's incident would have turned more devastating had the firefighters and local people not broken the glass panels and window panes at the right time. Senior officers of the fire department including DG fire Jag Mohan were present at the spot since early morning. According to a section of boarders who survived the tragedy, neither did they hear any emergency alarm when the fire broke out nor did the water sprinklers function. Thus, a probe has been initiated to identify the loopholes. Meanwhile, forensic experts visited the spot and collected necessary samples.
Sovan Chatterjee, the state Fire and Eservices minister, said: "There was necessary firefighting arrangement in the hotel. But they were not properly used. The accident could have been averted if they (hotel authorities) had been a bit more cautious."