A 90-minute battle to keep flames at bay, save employer’s home

Ghaziabad: For Usha (65), the night began with TV and ended in smoke, panic and a desperate race downstairs. For her house help, Puna Ram (28), it turned into a 90-minute battle with a fire powerful enough to set off AC units one after another.After pulling the elderly woman out of her flat in Gaur Green Avenue, Ram ran back up and kept spraying water to stop the blaze from a neighbouring commercial building from engulfing her home.Usha, who lives alone in flat E-101 while her two sons work in Thailand, said she first sensed something was wrong when smoke began entering the flat and she started feeling suffocated. She asked Ram to check. From the drawing room balcony, he saw flames rising from Gaur Biz business park and spreading upwards.“The fire was heading towards the bedroom side, where the AC was installed. Its outdoor unit was in the open balcony. My helper first rescued me and took me downstairs. Then, he said he was going back to throw water so the flames would not reach the flat. It was a horrible experience,” Usha said.Ram connected a pipe and began spraying water continuously to keep the flames from wrapping around the flat. “Several AC outdoor units installed near the bank on the ground floor exploded one by one. I kept throwing water so the fire would not surround the flat. I was scared I might lose my life, but thankfully, both the flat and I were saved.”He continued for more than one and a half hours, until around midnight, when firefighters reached the spot and joined the operation. By then, the society’s maintenance team had also begun using hosepipes to contain the spread.Not every home was spared. Flat E-201 suffered extensive damage. The tenant was away at the time and later found the hall and bedroom badly affected, with furniture, curtains and an AC gutted. Usha said he had returned from Uttarakhand when the fire broke out.Residents of E-203 also rushed out with their children after learning about the blaze. “All family members went outside the tower,” resident Sanjeev Singh said, adding that this was the second fire incident at the society, though this time the blaze began in the commercial building.Sudhanshu Tiwari, general manager (planning) at Gaur Group, said residents of Tower E were asked to evacuate to prevent injuries. “Everyone is safe, though some flats were damaged. Our team is assessing the losses,” he added.Vikash Kumar, maintenance head, also said the society team began spraying water as soon as they learnt of the fire to stop it from spreading into the residential complex.