Fire brigade officials and the local police suspect that a short circuit in an electricity board outside the house led to the fire.
Six people of a family, including two minor girls, were killed after a single-storey building caught fire in Burud Ali area of Ganesh Peth late on Thursday.
Fire brigade officials and the local police suspect that a short circuit in an electricity board outside the house led to the fire.
“Bamboo sticks and other combustible material to make brooms were kept near the board. This led the fire to spread quickly in the house,” said chief fire brigade officer, Prashant Ranpise.
Five members of the family — Sandip Ghorpade, 45, Archana Ghorpade, 30, Mahesh Digamber Ghorpade, 37, Surekha Ghorpade, 26 and Shravani Ghorpade, 2 — were killed in the fire. Another child, Shrutika Ghorpade, 3, was rescued and hospitalised, but succumbed to her burns on Friday morning.
According to Ranpise, Mahesh was burnt alive while four others died due to asphyxiation. Sandip’s mother, Parubai, had slept over at a neighbour’s house on that ill-fated night, while his brothers, Hrushikesh and Omkar, had gone to Kolhapur.
A local resident, Ganesh Chinchwale, told DNA that around 11.50pm his sister spotted thick black smoke emanating from the house. “I informed the neighbours and we rushed to Sandip’s house and tried to open the iron shutters, but in vain,” he recalled.
The whole house was engulfed in flames within 5 minutes, the neighbours said. The fire also spread to the adjacent house, damaging some garments and utensils.
Ranpise said that the fire brigade was informed about the incident around 11.55 pm. Within 15 minutes five fire tenders and four water tankers were at the spot.
“Initially, residents told us that only Shrutika was trapped inside the house. Our firemen entered the house and rescued the girl. Later, Sandip’s mother told us that there were other members inside. My men went back but the rest of the family had died near the bathroom by the time help reached them,” Ranpise said.
Had the firemen been alerted earlier, the other victims could have been saved, the fire brigade chief said.
Senior police inspector of Faraskhana police station, Venkat Ganganwad, said that prima facie it appeared that the fire broke out following a short circuit.
Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal rushed to the spot and met the bereaved family members. He also announced Rs1 lakh in compensation to the Ghorpade family.
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