Noida: A suspected short circuit in an air-conditioner triggered yet another highrise fire in NCR on Monday morning, gutting a 21st-floor flat in the city and forcing residents to flee through smoke-filled corridors.The fire at Aranya society in Sector 119 came weeks after the devastating Hauz Rani blaze in Delhi that killed 23 people, and amid a punishing heatwave that pushed “feels-like” temperatures beyond 50°C across NCR for two straight days. With ACs running for hours at a stretch in many homes, a series of recent fires linked to cooling units has raised alarm over electrical overloads and poor emergency preparedness.Monday’s blaze broke out around 8.50am in flat 2105, owned by Suresh Kumar Mahajan (61), after a blast in the outdoor AC unit caused by a short circuit. Within minutes, flames tore through one of the bedrooms and climbed along the building façade, while thick black smoke barrelled upwards into nearby flats.Mahajan said his family was asleep when the fire began. It was his elder daughter, a schoolteacher, who first sensed danger.“She woke up to smoke filling the room and shouted for all of us. Had she not, we may not have made it out,” Mahajan told TOI.The family rushed out moments before the room was engulfed.Six fire tenders reached the spot and managed to contain the flames before they spread horizontally to adjoining flats. But smoke seeped into at least four nearby units, triggering panic among residents on upper floors. Many ran down the stairwell as the society’s maintenance team began an evacuation.For nearly an hour after the fire was doused, residents remained stranded outside as water flooded the staircases and emergency systems were checked.By then, Mahajan’s home had been reduced to charred concrete.Furniture worth around Rs 15 lakh, household goods and valuables collected over months for his daughter’s wedding were destroyed. “Hum hero se zero ho gaye. Everything is gone. We couldn’t even save our wallets,” said Mahajan, sitting in a neighbour’s flat in just shorts and a vest.He said the family had been preparing for his daughter’s wedding and had stocked jewellery, much of which was gone.Chief fire officer Pradeep Kumar Chaubey said prima facie evidence points to an AC short circuit. “Our teams acted quickly and stopped the fire from spreading to other flats. The exact cause will be determined only after a thorough inspection,” Chaubey added.But the incident has reopened concerns over fire preparedness at Aranya society, an incomplete project currently under insolvency and managed by an interim resolution professional (IRP).Mahajan as well as other residents alleged that the fire alarm and automatic sprinkler systems failed during emergency. “Had the sprinklers worked, the damage could have been much less,” Mahajan said.Akhil Tiwari, who lives two floors above in flat 2304, said there was no effective firefighting infrastructure. “There are no working water lines or fire systems here. We were lucky the flames did not jump,” he said.The maintenance team denied the claims. Udit Narayan, the society’s maintenance in-charge, said the fire brigade was alerted immediately and the society’s own water source was used to contain the blaze.“We evacuated the affected families and nearby residents in time. That prevented a bigger disaster,” he added.(with inputs from Meenakshi Sinha)
