'Sisters escaped with burns, dog trapped': Resident recalls Delhi MPs apartment fire
While Pawan Kumar was away when the blaze began at around 1:10 PM on Saturday afternoon, his two younger sisters, aged 13 and 18, were inside.
When fire broke out on Saturday at the Brahmaputra Apartments, a housing complex for Rajya Sabha MPs near Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi, 20-year-old Pawan Kumar was filled with fear and disbelief.
Pawan, who lives on the third floor with his family, rushed home after hearing about a massive fire, fearing for the safety of his two sisters and his pet dog.
"My room on the third floor was untouched, but the floors below were engulfed in flames and smoke. I was worried about my two sisters and my pet dog at home," Pawan told news agency PTI.
While Pawan was away when the blaze began at around 1:10 PM on Saturday afternoon, his two younger sisters, aged 13 and 18, were inside.
"They suffered minor burns while escaping down the stairs. Our dog was trapped inside, but the fire officials managed to rescue him. We are incredibly lucky," he said.
Pawan and his family, including his father, who works in the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), his mother and a housekeeper, have lived in the apartment for eight months.
The fire at the MPs' housing complex
According to the Delhi Fire Services (DFS), the fire originated in the stilt parking area of the Brahmaputra Apartments housing complex, where several members of parliament live. The stilt parking area is used to store old furniture and wooden items. Fourteen fire tenders were deployed, and the blaze was largely under control by 2:10 PM.
The complex was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2020.
Residents have alleged negligence on the part of the CPWD, stating that repeated complaints about the discarded furniture were ignored.
"The fire started from the heap of old sofas and wooden items that we had repeatedly asked them to remove," Pawan Kumar explained.
He added that a major tragedy was narrowly avoided because most residents were not home at the time.
"If this had happened in the evening when the building was fully occupied, it could have been catastrophic," he said.
DFS officials mentioned that the parking area's open design allowed flames to spread quickly, damaging the first floor and charring the outer walls of the upper floors; however, the third-floor apartments were largely spared.
The police have stated that the cause of the fire is under investigation.
"Fire broke out in some sofa, mattresses kept in the parking lot at a few servant quarters behind the Brahmaputra apartment on Bishambar Das Marg. The first floor suffered some damage in the fire... No casualties were reported. A few people suffered a few scratches...Once the Fire Brigade report comes, we will be able to ascertain the cause of the fire. The Crime Team has also inspected the area," New Delhi DCP Devesh Kumar Mahla told news agency ANI.
