Fire in food court at Forum Mall causes panic

Inspection: Fire and Emergency Services personnel assessing the damage after a fire broke out at the food court in the Forum Mall in Bangalore on Monday,

Bangalore: A fire that broke out in one of the kitchens of the Transit Food Court on the second floor of Forum Mall in Koramangala on Monday evening caused panic and tension in the area.Though nobody was injured in the accident and the exact extent of loss is yet to be estimated, sources said goods worth lakhs of rupees have been damaged. The resultant panic created a stampede-like situation with people running helter–skelter in an attempt to move out of the mall. This also affected traffic movement on Hosur Road and all other connecting roads till late in the night. Monday being a holiday, the mall was crowded. While the police and officials from the Fire and Emergency Services suspected that gas leakage in one of the kitchens of the food court could have caused the fire, Mohammed Ali, incharge of Forum Mall, said the fire broke out after a coil burnt inside the air handling unit of the airconditioning equipment in the food court. All power connections were immediately disconnected, Mr Ali said. Though the fire was first noticed around 6.30 p.m., the process of putting it out began only after personnel from the Fire and Emergency Services arrived on the spot almost an hour later. Official sources said though the mall had fire hydrants and fire extinguishers on every floor, none of the employees bothered to switch them on soon after the fire was noticed. “The mall has 200 employees deployed for house-keeping and maintenance apart from those employed by the owners of the commercial establishments and shops. But none of them are trained in safety measures. They should have used the fire safety equipment in the mall soon after the fire was noticed,” the sources said. It took nearly one and half hours for the police to vacate the mall, including those from the multiplex. Those who had parked their vehicles in the basement of the complex were stranded near the mall as the police barricaded the entire area. The police did not allow the vehicle owners to take out their vehicles from the parking lot as they were not sure which portion of the mall had been damaged the worst. “We do not want to take any chances. A detailed inspection of the building will be carried out by officials from the Department of Factories and Boilers, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and fire services after which a decision on whether to demolish the damaged portion or repair it will be taken,” a senior police official said. Subashini Navaratnam, who was in the food court in the mall, said she had ordered for food and was sitting in the lounge with her friend. “I did not realise there was a fire till people started screaming and running out. The electric escalators had stopped functioning and all of us started climbing down the stairs. It was a stampede-like situation but luckily none of us were hurt,” she said. M. Mahadevan, an advocate, who was celebrating a personal occasion with his senior in the food court, said he did not realise what was happening for a moment. “People were running helter-skelter and everyone was moving towards the exit. Someone told me there was a fire. But we did not panic,” he said.