A day after a fire almost destroyed a seven-storeyed building that housed Chennai Silks in the city, preparations are underway to raze what's left of the building under the inspection of revenue officials. Four floors of the building collapsed at around 3 a.m. in the morning today.
3:00 p.m.:
Lorries laden with debris are brought in to Chennai Silks premises.
Construction debris are being brought to T.Nagar, where the Chennai Silks building will be demolished.
2.15 p.m.: Our photographers captured the fire and its aftermath.
In Pictures: Chennai Silks fire rages on for second day
1.20 p.m.: The Chennai Silks building is to be demolished by 4 p.m., officials have confirmed. The decision was taken following the advice of experts and engineers of the PWD. The massive operation will be undertaken with the expertise of Chennai Metro Rail Limited. All residents within a 200-meter radius in the area in will be evacuated, officials said. The estimated loss is Rs.420 crore.
1.10 p.m.: The city police registered a case by calling it an accidental fire. The cause of accident is yet to be investigated with the help of forensic experts, said a senior official of the city police. The initial investigation revealed that barrels of diesel to be used for power generators had been stocked in the basement.
11.45 a.m.: A major portion of the seven-storeyed building of Chennai Silks on Usman Road crumbled early in the morning as the fire gutted the portion. On Wednesday, the fire had destroyed all goods stocked in the show room. Almost 32 hours later, the fire brigade is still trying to control the flames. The entire area of Usman Road was barricaded and no public and media personnel were allowed near the scene. The fire brigade is still fighting using skylifts but smoke is still seen to be billowing out from the building.
10.45 a.m.: The Madras HC agrees to speed up the hearing of pleas against unauthorised constructions in Chennai after the fire. A team of doctors headed by Dr. S. Mayilvahanan, director of internal medicine at MMC, reach the spot. Chennai corporation health officials are also on stand-by. Three hospital-on-wheels team, four 108 ambulances and 2 two-wheeler ambulances are also in position.
10.10 a.m.: Residents of two apartment complexes next to the Chennai Silks building have been asked to leave ahead of the demolition. Revenue Minister R.B. Udayakumar has reached the spot and held a meeting with officials. "A floor of the building collapsed because of the intense heat. Fire has been doused... But due to the heat, in patches it's restarting. Fire officials are monitoring the situation. We have experts on the field now. Once the fire is doused completely and the situation is brought back to normalcy, the government will take action to bring down the building. Experts will also look at how to minimise damage to the neighbouring buildings. Administration is keen to ensure neighbouring buildings are not affected. Experts are assessing technical feasibilities of bringing down the building. Right now safety is important. The government will also check if there are any violations of rules. Work on deciding how to go about demolishing the building will start after bringing the fire completely under control," the Minister told the media. Health Minister C.J. Vijaya Bhaskar also arrives at the spot.
Water being sprayed on the gutted Chennai Silks building on Thursday.
10.00 a.m.: A day before the Chennai Silks fire, the High Court–appointed Monitoring Committee had met for the 61st time. As always, it discussed at length the T.Nagar building violations and the impediments to enforcement. The 62 “unauthorised buildings” in T.Nagar had flouted development regulations, particularly with reference to Floor Space Index, and therefore action had to be taken, especially since the Smart City project had been taken up in T.Nagar.
9.50 a.m.:
Below are the key aspects of the affidavit filed by the Fire and Rescue Services Department in the High Court that largely remain unaddressed to this day
1. Measured 3.7 m and 4.9 m at the entrance of the Usman Road in either side of the flyover near Chennai Silks. According to the CMDA rules, the access road width for multi-storey buildings should be 18m or with limitations up to 12m or 15 m. In this case, it is less than 4 m.
2. The setback requirement is either Nil or not as per requirement of 7m all around the building. So, fire vehicles unable to access sides except in cases where there are roads abutting the buildings.
3. For every 500m 2 , two exits of sufficient width should be provided. One of them should be a fire escape staircase, placed on external walls and directly connected to the ground.
4. In some T.Nagar buildings, only one staircase is provided. In others, goods are dumped on fire escape staircases blocking access
5. The upper storeys of many buildings are used as kitchen/dining, storage, rest rooms/work spaces for employees.
6. VESDA (Very Early Warning Smoke Detection Apparatus) is provided in some buildings but the sounding alarm is made inoperative. Conventional smoke alarm system is there but not functional or connected to alarm panel
7. In most of the buildings water storage, fire pump facilities and hydrant systems are not as per requreiments of National Building Code of India. Automatic sprinkler system is not provided.
9.45 a.m.: J. Ayyappan, resident of Pinjalai Subramanian street, said that in the early morning there was smoke emerging from the bottom of the building. "Many early morning-walkers like me thought that labourers were doing some welding there. Only after a few minutes did we realise that it was a fire. Since 5 a.m, the Fire and Rescue Services personnel are fighting to bring the fire under control,” he said.
9.40 a.m.: The other PWD officials include R. Vijayaraghavan, chief engineer, design and research, civil structure stability; K.R. Kumar Sheela, superintending engineer, planning and design, C. Kalyanasundaram, executive engineer, and C. Balamurugan, executive engineer planning and design are in discussion now in T. Nagar.
9.25 a.m.: Anna university specialists reach the Chennai Silks building. Team of engineers led by R. Jayasingh to assess the structure.
9.20 a.m.: Water tankers are positioned on Usman Road to continue fighting the flames. It is understood that the shop had stored 20 barrels of diesel on the ground floor which added fuel to the fire.
9.15 a.m.: Release of gas has been noticed. Senior PWD officials are already in T.Nagar. The officials have sought the expertise of IIT's and Anna University's structural engineers and civil engineers. The plan would be to evolve a strategy to bring down the building without causing damage to the rest of the contiguous structures.
A major fire broke out on Wednesday at Chennai Silks, a leading textile showroom in Usman Road, T. Nagar.
9.10 a.m.: State relief commissioner and commission of revenue administration, K. Sathyagopal and DC Corporation Subodh Kumar and Collector Anbuselvan were present. Mr. Sathyagopal said they would wait for the fire to completely die town before venturing into the building. Flames are still seen in the upper floors.
9.00 a.m.: Though the estimated loss could not be immediately ascertained, sources said dress material worth several crores of rupees were gutted and gold jewellery and silver articles were beyond recovery.
8.30 a.m.: While water is still being sprayed on the building, the fire is almost put out. Police constables were seen standing guard around the area and announcements were made to disperse public standing around the building.
8.00 a.m.: Chennai Collector Anbuselvan, Commissioner of Revenue and Administration Sathyagopal are present at the cordoned-off area. Nearly four floors of the building crashed in the early hours of today, reports said.
The seven-storeyed “unauthorised building” which was engulfed in a fire housed Chennai Silks and Sri Kumaran Thanga Maligai in T. Nagar. The fire raged the whole day on Wednesday, and fire services personnel were fighting the smoke and flames late into the night. There were no reports of casualties or people being injured.
On May 31 , here's how it all started:
4.30 a.m.: Fire control room receives call about the t hick smoke emanating from the basement of seven-storeyed building.
4.45 a.m.: First water tenders rush from T. Nagar and Teynampet.
6.00 a.m.: Sky lifts arrive on the spot and begin operation.
7.00 a.m.: Police seals entire area and public is barred from entering Usman Road.
8.00 a.m.: 14 persons rescued from top floor of building.
10.00 a.m.: Fire in the front portion of the building brought under control.
10.30 a.m.: Fire reignites on another floor, starts spreading.
10.45 a.m.: Ground floor of building caves in and makes it impossible for fire brigade to move in.
11-2.00 p.m.: Fire fighting continues as thick smoke billows.
2-4.00 p.m.: Fire goes out of control; fire brigade break open glass.
7.00 p.m.: Fire is under control except in seventh floor where thick smoke billows.
