Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Fire
When someone jumps out of a high-rise window to escape a fire, it doesn’t happen like in the movies. The fall doesn’t proceed in slow motion. There’s no drama, no close-up of the jumper’s face as they go through their emotions. One moment they are hurtling through the air, the next they are a shabby lump on the ground. You might as well have thrown out a sack of clothes. There’s no time for any sort of emotional response in the onlooker.
Douglas Adams delivered the most sage bits of advice over thirty years ago:
- Don’t Panic
- Knowing where one’s towel is
When the fire alarm went off at about 4 PM yesterday, nobody budged. We knew the drill. Someone would come knocking on the door, demanding that we keep with the program and get out. We’d reluctantly pack up stuff and lock the door on the way out, because fire drills are such a perfect opportunity for theft. Nobody wanted to be bothered with this. That is, until we saw smoke out of the window.
“Run!” demanded Sashi. “Don’t pack, just run.” Then we saw smoke coming in the front door. Thick, black, stinging smoke. And then it was coming in through the restrooms and the pantry, and leaking in from the ceiling. We were trapped. The fire was right outside and all we could do was shut the doors and stay in. Outside, black clouds billowed from floors above. Spectators had started to gather.
There was neither heat nor visible flame. We didn’t know where the fire was, but it sure seemed to be above us. Smoke continued to seep in. Anjan ran to the restroom and wetted his handkerchief. Getting the idea, I did too with my cycling hand-towel, then passed it on and ran rounds for the others, wetting their kerchiefs. The restroom got harder to enter with each round. I had to breathe deep, open the door, open tap, wet the kerchief, close tap, step out, close the door, and breathe out. One early breath and I’d be choking. Breathing outside air through the wet cloth made it bearable.
Being thus forced to the windows, we turned outwards to look down on the growing crowd. Someone jumped from the floor above. Someone else too. Bizarrely, this was like watching a high voltage action movie in immersive 3D, except we may not be going home at the end of it.
Or you could look at it as a giant fumigation operation. Smoke the building out and watch the humans flee through any exit available, however high off the ground it is.
What does one do at a time like this? Sashi called her husband. Anjan called his wife, produced a string of beads from somewhere, and proceed to sit in a corner and chant. Sanjay called his mother, carefully explained that we were stuck in a burning building, and asked if she could perform a puja for us, and no, this was not a joke call. Sangeetha, I don’t know what she did. As an asthmatic, she was at high risk of asphyxiation. Seetharaman had the worst time of all. As a single father, he had to explain to his very young daughter that this may be a goodbye.
I didn’t call anyone. I didn’t want to set off panic. I stayed by the window, watching the crowd below, the fire brigades trying to make their way through, the men assembling mattresses and a cloth net for additional jumpers. We were going to be rescued and would be going home shortly. There was no need to panic.
Except, something was missing. Where was the documentation? So I took out my phone and posted:
Carlton Towers is burning and six of us are trapped inside. The fire’s above but there’s smoke everywhere. Saw people jump to their death. #
Then I took a picture of the crowd and posted that too:
http://ping.fm/p/DIQQv - Fire at Carlton Towers #
I had no idea what I was setting off when I did this. Friends started to call almost immediately. The typical conversation went like this:
“Hi”
“Hi”
“Umm, are you all right?”
“I’m stuck inside a burning building.”
“You are… inside?”
“Yes, I’m inside, trapped, and it’s burning.”
“Umm, can I do anything to help?”
“No, it’s okay, I’ll be fine.”
By the time I hung up on one, another would be on call waiting, asking too if they could do anything to help. I could no longer post pictures or text. Seriously, people, if you’re not at the site of the emergency, don’t call. Your concern is appreciated, but by blocking all channels during those precious minutes, you’re being a hindrance. I posted a request:
Don’t call me folks, you can’t help. Will keep posting. #
It went mostly unheeded. People called anyway. Bala from DNA made the first press call. And now that it had hit the news, it was time to call family. I called Zainab first and asked her to tell mom, and to tell her to please not panic. Another person jumped and collapsed.
The firemen meanwhile had assembled a ladder and were attempting to scale up the other end of the building. The ladder went up to the fourth, while I could see many hands waving from the fifth, our floor. They were tossing a rope up for someone to catch. Elsewhere, men were bringing in a bamboo ladder. The men with the cloth net caught two jumpers, who were quickly whisked away to a waiting ambulance. (Apparently, one died.) Then they started to put in place a ladder directly below us. A ladder rescue, it was going to be. We waited. We continued hollering for attention, actually. The ladder was taking forever.
A Corner House treat to whoever gets a picture of me looking out of the window. Seriously, people, there’s no need to panic. Bad for you. #
And then there was a knock on the door. A fireman was outside. The smoke had cleared sufficiently for us to walk down the stairs. I quickly unplugged my desktop, grabbed my gear and stuffed as much as I could into my pockets. Seetha switched off the UPS. There had been no power since before the fire started, but we didn’t want to be the cause of another mishap, what with all the soot flying around. I went out last to watch for anyone stumbling ahead of me. We passed a small fire on the fourth floor and exited on the first, walked across the roof of the ground floor and down the B wing stairs. The firemen had blocked entry to the ground floor of our building. It was still sputtering.
As we walked across, I noticed another rescue operation in progress on the inner side of the building and stopped to watch. Someone had let down a fire hose from the roof and folks were swinging down one at a time. The staff of the restaurant downstairs were also there. They said it was suspected to be an electric fire. I posted:
http://ping.fm/p/7gxrg - Heard it’s not a fire, just an electric short-circuit. Only smoke (itself quite dangerous). #
Pavanaja called to say a local TV channel wanted to interview me. I accepted and went on the air explaining what I had seen in my broken Kannada. They wanted to know how many people were on the floor and what sort of companies they were. I had no idea, so I made guesses from what I remembered of the directory downstairs. Deepa Kurup from The Hindu was next, followed by a series of publications and channels that I can no longer remember. I was on the phone almost continuously for the next hour.
The crowd outside had swelled to cut off all transportation:
http://ping.fm/p/jCEPJ - Massive crowd outside. This must have choked traffic for kilometres around. #
Sashi’s husband, a senior executive at Dell, arranged for a medical check-up at Dell’s campus up the road. The doctor gave me a clean chit. Blood pressure normal, breathing normal, just a lot of soot in my nose and hopefully not in my lungs.
We settled into a conference room to let our nerves settle. NDTV called next, and attending to this, I have to say, was a mistake. They tried to keep me on line for as long as they could while they interviewed the fire chief and others, asking me what I thought of the arrangements. I eventually got fed up, told them politely I had to talk to my family too, and hung up. (The clip is only 3 minutes, but the call went on for over twenty.) My phone said I had sixteen missed calls and several more messages waiting. One was from CNN-IBN, who ended up reading out my tweets. I was in no mood to return calls or do any more interviews, so I posted:
Cycling home. Won’t take calls. Please feel free to use my pictures as needed. #
The very helpful folks at Dell insisted that I take a cab home. They had booked a large car so I could fit the cycle in it. I insisted on cycling home. They didn’t think it was appropriate after facing this sort of trauma. I pointed out that I wasn’t the least bit traumatised and the doctor had confirmed. They relented, and I cycled home to parents who had been unable to watch television until then, fearing the worst.
Calls and messages continued to pour in late at night, and again this morning, thanks to the newspaper coverage.
All this media attention is being a lot more stressful than the fire itself. #
Requests for interviews continue as I type this, forcing me to switch off.
Turned down two phone calls requesting in-person interviews. Switching off phone for today. Will be on Twitter though. #
What is the point of an interview? It sells advertising for the interviewer, but will it do anything at all to improve fire safety? Will it make up for the disruption caused to the lives of the affected?
shyam — Feb 24, 2010 4:04:48 PM — # ↩
I guess you displayed the most important thing in a situation like this – a steady nerve
f1raghu — Feb 24, 2010 4:05:03 PM — # ↩
Thanks for sharing mate..... you have to face the media and talk abt fire safety measures…this is the chance..and thats what i feel…how ever its left to u dude
Baishampayan Ghose — Feb 24, 2010 4:11:16 PM — # ↩
I am very happy to know that you were not harmed.
priyanka — Feb 24, 2010 4:11:30 PM — # ↩
I’m glad you didnt try to be an overnight media hero! #Hi-Fi!! Kudos to your modesty…
Rafi Ali Khan — Feb 24, 2010 4:12:52 PM — # ↩
Great writing dude, glad you came out of the fire ok. Followed your tweets last evening. Hope everyone had kept their cool and no lives were lost.
Madhulika Garg — Feb 24, 2010 4:13:09 PM — # ↩
I m glad u R safe…I was going thru all yr tweets…n had replied also....
I can imagine the pain u must hv gone thru…But I wish u gud luck for future…keep up your gud presence of mind…U r truly strong and a blessed person…
Thank you for letting me know your true story through this wonderful post…
Regards,
Madhulika
Ravindra Jaju — Feb 24, 2010 4:14:56 PM — # ↩
Dude! I never imagined someone I knew would be caught in this! Great to know you are fine. And amazing - all of you kept your cool. Whether something that improves fire safety conditions happens - is anybody’s guess…
Atul — Feb 24, 2010 4:17:24 PM — # ↩
I agree, best to stay away from media interviews. They distort everything to raise TRPs. Writing your own story and publishing it this way makes much more sense.
Sameer — Feb 24, 2010 4:17:31 PM — # ↩
+1 on the steady nerve bit, dude. Thank God it ended alright for you and your colleagues. Its crazy to just think of people jumping in front of your eyes. Take care, and read a nice book or something. Or coffee is still due.
Prashanth M — Feb 24, 2010 4:17:57 PM — # ↩
saw your tweets in the night.... i dont think I’ve the steady nerve which you displayed…
@f1raghu, no one from media wants to listen to fire safety. Only thing they have in mind is TRP
Kartik Mistry — Feb 24, 2010 4:19:30 PM — # ↩
Well done, Jace. You stayed calm in such situation..
clemenza — Feb 24, 2010 4:21:56 PM — # ↩
dude,
looks like you had a crazy experience. perhaps the most famous accident in banglaore [it was breaking news till 8].
happy that you got out safe. RIP for the 9 others who did not make it.
PS: dont you guys have firedrills et all at carlton towers?
Vijay Basrur — Feb 24, 2010 4:27:55 PM — # ↩
Kiran, thanks for sharing this. You have some nerve. And your experience confirms the fact that the media only care about “exclusive clips” and nothing else
Amit — Feb 24, 2010 4:27:57 PM — # ↩
U sure are a genius! Agree with your closing notes. You had an opportunity to get publicity by appearing on news channels but you chose not to change overnight! You have set example for others in such situations! God bless!
Sameer Panchangam — Feb 24, 2010 4:29:21 PM — # ↩
Hope the press/media dont copy/paste the above story and call it their own!
Gops — Feb 24, 2010 4:30:55 PM — # ↩
I agree with Shyam, you have shown remarkable nerve of steel. I lost one of my friends, Sunil Iyer of JDA.
aditya — Feb 24, 2010 4:32:18 PM — # ↩
man u hav a nerve of steel!!! thanks for sharing it!!
Rakesh Gupta — Feb 24, 2010 4:34:28 PM — # ↩
Your calmness in such a situation is worth appreciating. Good job buddy.
irynn — Feb 24, 2010 4:34:33 PM — # ↩
Jace, what an experience! Great documentation!!! Yes, maximize this experience to lobby for better fire safety etc.
Sweeks — Feb 24, 2010 4:35:55 PM — # ↩
Good job Jace. It was indeed impressive of u to keep ur nerves cool in such a dire situation rather than being panicky and did your part in helping out your fellow colleagues. I reflect your view about the media. They just need coverage and more advertising income forgetting the fact that they have a very major role to play in Social responsibility.
tazz — Feb 24, 2010 4:36:01 PM — # ↩
Hey Jace was following your twitter stream the entire while. Like kartik said well done :)
Jo — Feb 24, 2010 4:39:40 PM — # ↩
The last sentences in this post make sense of it all. And the way you brought yourself through the event and your responses to media etc at such a situation shows how firm and genuine you are. Kudos to you.
Pradeep Soundararajan — Feb 24, 2010 4:40:39 PM — # ↩
I have met you at Barcamp Bangalore and when the name flashed, I knew this was someone I knew. I was praying for your safety and thanks for updating us about how things went there and glad to know you are safe. My prayers to those who died and those who are suffering from pain. Live long.
Divyesh — Feb 24, 2010 4:42:33 PM — # ↩
you did a gr8 job frnd. most important thing was u distracted urself frm the prblm at hand and the was no problem et all…
Nirav — Feb 24, 2010 4:42:34 PM — # ↩
buddy, u did just the right thing by turning off your mobile! these pesky media folks are a PIA! any ways, it was really thoughtful of you not to panic and handle the situation with such a panache!
Pradeep Soundararajan — Feb 24, 2010 4:42:47 PM — # ↩
I have met you at Barcamp Bangalore and when the name flashed, I knew this was someone I knew. I was praying for your safety and thanks for updating us about how things went there and glad to know you are safe. My prayers to those who died and those who are suffering from pain. Live long.
Pradeep Soundararajan — Feb 24, 2010 4:46:38 PM — # ↩
I have met you at Barcamp Bangalore and when the name flashed, I knew this was someone I knew. I was praying for your safety and thanks for updating us about how things went there and glad to know you are safe. My prayers to those who died and those who are suffering from pain. Live long.
ujj — Feb 24, 2010 4:55:43 PM — # ↩
your last line nailed it!
Sourav Roy — Feb 24, 2010 5:26:51 PM — # ↩
If
by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man my son!
Kiran Jonnalagadda — Feb 24, 2010 5:41:56 PM — # ↩
Wonderful!
Archana Sharma — Feb 24, 2010 5:31:30 PM — # ↩
Well Done Kiran. You managed to keep yourself calm in such a panic-strikn situation. I appritiate it. I request that you must send this article to some New Papers as well, it will give a real message to the people who get panic easily. The way You managed to keep yourself cool is really admirable. :)
Sidu — Feb 24, 2010 5:51:53 PM — # ↩
Glad you’re safe, Jace.
Arun Anantharaman — Feb 24, 2010 5:52:53 PM — # ↩
Saw your tweets yesterday - glad to know you are fine. Didn’t know you were working there till I saw your tweet.
Arun Anantharaman — Feb 24, 2010 5:52:57 PM — # ↩
Saw your tweets yesterday - glad to know you are fine. Didn’t know you were working there till I saw your tweet.
Pingback by Carlton Towers fire | DesiPundit — Feb 24, 2010 5:54:07 PM — # ↩
[…] Kiran narrates the horrifying tale of how he escaped yesterday’s fire at Carlton Towers. Hats off to this guy . […]
Vallath — Feb 24, 2010 6:07:09 PM — # ↩
I am really glad to hear you’re safe and can only imagine what you’ve been.. but having said that, about this line: “Seriously, people, if you’re not at the site of the emergency, don’t call.”
If you didn’t want people to call, you should have just NOT tweeted. Don’t mean to be preachy, but if you don’t inform your family, someone else will. I know this from personal experience. It’s always best to tell your family, if you can.
Kiran Jonnalagadda — Feb 24, 2010 6:12:21 PM — # ↩
I trust you read the rest of the text, Vallath.
Rachana Shakyawar — Feb 24, 2010 6:16:13 PM — # ↩
HI JakerHack! You wont beleive how immensely happy m today to c u fine! You have definitely set an inspiration for your acts!!
Definitely..the saying goes right…
God Helps them who Helps Themselves!
U are blessed..!
Celebrate Life..
Keep the Spark alive..
Aneesha — Feb 24, 2010 6:30:22 PM — # ↩
I’m glad you got out safe. It’s amazing how you were so steady through the whole thing. Bravo!
Web Designer — Feb 24, 2010 6:44:57 PM — # ↩
I find that line “Seriously, people, if you’re not at the site of the emergency, don’t call.” to be most sensible from Kiran. I would also prefer to leave alone the person and his only respite (phone) when he is in such a traumatic situation. His Tweets actually helped in getting help and alerts and can be credited to for so many peoples final escape!
It’s good to have somebody in touch and telling the outer world what are the conditions inside.
Good work Kiran :) Hats off!
Sajjad — Feb 24, 2010 7:14:33 PM — # ↩
Glad that you are safe. I was offline for more than 20 hours and did not understand what was happening. Thank God, you are safe.
Rolen — Feb 24, 2010 7:57:20 PM — # ↩
Hi Kiran…The important part of all this was u avoided media as much as possible..they are really a pain when in such situations! Interviews with survivors gives them higher TRP but will they improve anything even when the fire was on?
Pavanaja U B — Feb 24, 2010 8:14:47 PM — # ↩
Well written. Appreciate everything you wrote and also about you. Happy to know you are back with us unharmed.
Sriram — Feb 24, 2010 8:41:18 PM — # ↩
Nice Jace,glad your safe.
Safal — Feb 24, 2010 8:50:24 PM — # ↩
Atta Boy! Way to go
Mahesh Shantaram — Feb 24, 2010 11:42:00 PM — # ↩
What a fantastic first-person account. I’m glad you were level-headed and nimble-minded enough to keep the communication going. Not sure how I would have handled it. Thanks!
Mahendran R — Feb 24, 2010 11:48:16 PM — # ↩
nice to read.. more than the experiance i liked the narration-in your words the documentation of a person trapped in a burning building! RIP for the deceased.. let the media not take pieces of your posting in there own way and sell it!!!
Madhav — Feb 24, 2010 11:56:16 PM — # ↩
Bravo, Kiran.I really admire the way you stayed calm right through all this. You are an inspiration.
Jayalakshmi — Feb 25, 2010 12:09:32 AM — # ↩
Hats off to you and your collegues who were with you. I do hope many young persons will read this blog and learn a few things.
God bless you all.
Pingback by Global Voices Online » India: Surviving A Fire — Feb 25, 2010 12:14:13 AM — # ↩
[…] Kiran Jonnalagadda posts his accounts of surviving a fire in his Carlton tower office in Bangalore. Nine people have died and 70 people have been injured. […]
Suba — Feb 25, 2010 12:39:21 AM — # ↩
Seriously man!..This media is only interested in getting coverage and collecting information..I saw Bharkha dutt asking one man who just lost his wife in 26/11″how do you feel”…What sort of question is it man!..Too bad to see those people dying :(....i don’t understand one thing…The people who jumped out from the building..did they not see the first person who jumped from the building dying right in front of their eyes??I don’t know what they went through!..But heard that they were people on the 6 th or 7 th floor got saved becoz they stayed put at their place…The safety net is kind of joke for us!…Why not the Government invest in some safety measures rather being sorry ??..My heart goes to the people who died..Poor thing how many kids have lost their “Mom” or “Dad” and Parents lost their “kids”??..Could have been better handled..I learnt one thing from you..”Stay Cool”…If you are nervous you make mistakes ..I am so glad you guys didn’t do any stupid mistakes like others did…After all we are not Sharukhan and not in a movie man!..Get well Soon and stay safe!..
Suba
GC — Feb 25, 2010 1:06:07 AM — # ↩
i am glad for you kiran. you are special with this calmness gene ya know. you might want to try a couple of other professions than time in cubiclestan sorting out bugging code or handling tech support calls....may i suggest a hostage negotiator, united nations mediator, disaster response coordinator or primary school teacher :).
Kiran Jonnalagadda — Feb 25, 2010 1:09:20 PM — # ↩
Thanks, but I like my job. Cubiclestan is a minor inconvenience given what we’re trying to achieve, and I don’t even work out of the office everyday. But we’ll go public with what we’re doing at a more appropriate time.
GC — Feb 26, 2010 5:21:11 AM — # ↩
i was just kidding kiran :)~ good luck with your ventures! keep rockin~
Vijay Padiyar — Feb 25, 2010 2:55:11 AM — # ↩
If it wasn’t a real life tragedy, this would have made for great reading! I am sorry about the deaths of some of your building mates. I totally agree with you – for all our anger and consternation, things will be back to “normal” pretty soon. Same old meaningless fire drills with nothing working when actually needed.
I remember my business trip to Canada. We were on the ground floor in office when the fire alarm went off in the first floor lab. We all walked out calmly in single file. By the time we came out the front door (which was hardly three minutes later), there was already a fire engine and an ambulance coming in. I was really amazed!
Contrast that with the scene here, and you know instantly why India is still a “third-world” country.
Ajith — Feb 25, 2010 5:56:10 AM — # ↩
Great sense of humor and composure under these circumstances. Hope something good and lasting comes off this incident.
Rohit — Feb 25, 2010 10:09:44 AM — # ↩
what an attentionwhore!!!
Vishal — Feb 25, 2010 2:40:10 PM — # ↩
Kudos to you for braving adversity with humor and presence of mind! Tweeting was commendably an ingenious idea to curb panic and spread awareness. Hope you’ve had some respite from the media eager beavers.
SMS — Feb 25, 2010 5:19:40 PM — # ↩
good 2 know u r safe. and hoping may be somewhere people who mater would wake up @ improving fire safety of our buildings
Bindu — Feb 25, 2010 6:31:44 PM — # ↩
Glad that you came out unscathed from such a horrifying incident ( read in papers that there was 2000 liters of diesel stored on the terrace) I lost a friend. Still struggling to come to terms with it.
No point in talking to media. they have a duty to create public awareness about safety and the lack of it. interviewing people is not the means to it.
Shree Kumar — Feb 25, 2010 7:25:14 PM — # ↩
Great to know you are safe, Jace ! And very good to see you kept your cool all through.
Krishna — Feb 25, 2010 11:42:50 PM — # ↩
Certainly fortune favours the brave is what proved by your calm and composure attitude. Do maintain this healthy state all your life. We were watching live from your opposite building Diamond District and were really in sort of helpless state there. Still wondering why did not HAL send their fire brigade and personnel when they had the capability to reach and control it sooner than any one else. Things like these really lack justification in day-to-day world..... Keep up the spirit
Premshree — Feb 26, 2010 12:24:22 AM — # ↩
Glad to know you’re okay.
Jacob Abraham — Feb 26, 2010 9:04:45 AM — # ↩
Wow…Thankfully your safe
cnh — Feb 26, 2010 11:08:02 AM — # ↩
hi kiran
glad to know that you are safe
feel really sad for the victims of this tragedy
i am a biking freak & was amazed but understood your desire to cycle home :)
cheers
ashish
p.s. looks like u r working on some stealth stuff…good luck with that
venkatesh — Feb 26, 2010 7:57:27 PM — # ↩
Well done Kiran. I am curious to know why could maintain sanity while some others where not. Where you trained or is it because of the kind of person you are?
Kiran Jonnalagadda — Feb 26, 2010 11:58:15 PM — # ↩
I had watched this TED Talk by Rick Smolan, in which he describes how he survived a smoke fire in a hotel. It came back to me at the right moment. www.ted.com/index.php/talks/rick_smolan_tells_the_story_of_a_girl.html
Aditya Kavoor — Feb 27, 2010 12:11:19 AM — # ↩
The worst had to be watching people jump out from the building. To watch a person so desperate to escape the pain of fire that s/he is willing to commit suicide is a terrible in two ways. One, the fire must have been extremely painful, and two, the will to live, one of the strongest human emotions had fled their souls. I think it was this idea that made you sick to the stomach.
Shekhar — Feb 27, 2010 12:07:43 PM — # ↩
Hi Dude. Greatly moved by your horrific experience. I am in Mumbai but my son is in B’lore n stays very close fm your fire site. Though not stressed as much we were watching the fire on TV.
Being a marine engineer I have myself gone thru this experience and am aware how much important it is to keep cool in such instances. I read all the reactions, but no one has taken due note of the initial para about the mock drill. These drills have to be less mock and more practical and done with all seriousness. On the ships every Saturday there is a drill wherein everyone has a assigned duty and life saving and fire fighting is co-ordinated.
I am a member of a co-op hospital in Mumbai which is not fit and properly organized for fire emergency. I have been striving for the past 5 years with the office bearers for improving the same but with no avail… I can only pray to the God to not to make the occupants face this kind of disaster… where more than half of the occupants would be incapable of strugling for life.
Hope for the best for all.
Shekhar
Thejesh GN — Feb 28, 2010 11:58:46 AM — # ↩
I am happy that you are okay.
Prayag — Feb 28, 2010 6:16:13 PM — # ↩
Thanks for taking time to put it all together. Surely it would allow many of us to ‘learn’ without having to live through the experience.
I heard the Carlton Tower story on news, but didn’t follow it when it said few people jumped to death. That seemed unacceptable and too depressing, how can we have this happening in a modern building and in middle of Indian Silicon Valley.
In fact just few days back we had a fire drill in my office, I tweeted a picture of that and my off line rant was, we were not taking the effort to actually teach people anything about dealing with crisis situation. People just walked out, said hi to each other and time was calculated and it was thought to be a success. My complaint was, that’s not what happens when there’s a real fire, people panic, most don’t know what to do in that situation, very few have actually operated any fire extinguisher or broke those fire alarm glass boxes ever. And we were not even taking the opportunity to give any printed hand out telling them 5 things to learn about fire or other emergency situation.
Last night a friend of mine from BLR was telling me how someone was tweeting from inside Carlton tower and that’s when I looked up the story and found out all this details.
Once again thanks for sharing all that, there needs to be several learning for many of us there.
Even though I understand your point about not calling home to avoid scaring them off, but in several instances my own experience has been folks at home like to hear from us first hand and that’s quite reassuring than anything else.
I was in office with a live feed of WTC 2nd tower going down and trying to convince a colleague’s wife that her husband was alright in US, I could reach him on email, while he was not able to call out of East Coast that point in time. It still took another day to make that phone call when she was finally convinced/relieved ‘cause it was him on the other end of the phone.
Anyway, as much as glad I’m that you and rest of your office folks made it out safe, still quite sad for the few who didn’t make it.
BTW, thanks for exposing the media drama, often the likes of NDTV pretend they’ve done nothing to jeopardize an already complicated situation with their live feeds and in your case endless waiting for few exclusive sound bytes.
Take care and Good Luck !!
Ashoka — Mar 1, 2010 9:56:15 AM — # ↩
My friend died in the lift. I don’t know what happened, but what can one do under such circumstances- when one is caught in the lift? Probably it caught stuck with no electricity either.
Kiran Jonnalagadda — Mar 1, 2010 7:02:46 PM — # ↩
That is most unfortunate, Ashoka. I can’t imagine what anyone could do being caught in there.
I was in the lift a couple of weeks ago when the power went out. Two fellows from the upper floors (6th and 7th, whose access to the stairs was/is locked, so they could only use the lift at all times) were in the lift with me. One fellow calmly explained to the other what would happen now.
He said the guards would now switch on the generator. The lift wouldn’t move until then. When nothing happened for a minute, he pressed the Alarm moment. The generator came on shortly after and the lift started moving. His companion noticed the Ground floor button light had gone out, so he pressed it. The first said it wouldn’t respond. The lift would “reboot” and proceed to the basement, and start accepting requests after that. He had been through this before and knew how it worked.
The power had gone out about half an hour before the fire. When the fire broke out, someone must have switched off the generator and trapped whoever was inside.
This is beyond horrible to even imagine.
Pradeep — Apr 19, 2010 1:05:12 PM — # ↩
thanks for this post. glad u came out safe.