Mumbai: Fire guts set of TV serial at Film City

A major fire broke out in Film City at Goregaon on Friday evening on the set of Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin a TV serial It spread to adjacent sets due to high wind and was declared a level 3 fire by the Mumbai Fire Brigade MFB It was brought under control by 7 pm No injuries have been reportedWhile an official from the Managing Directors office at Film City has said prima facie a short circuit could be blamed the president of Federation of Western India Cine Employees said he has heard that a fire scene was being shot without a specialist action director which led to the accidentThe fire was confined to the ground floor of a studio spread over 5000 square metres As per information given by the BMC Disaster Control Room the fire brigade received a call around 430 pm and five fire engines were sent to the spot along with two jumbo tankers of water The fire brigade declared it a level 3 fire on a scale of 1 to 5 at 522 pm At least 12 fire engines along with 9 water tankers were then on the spot to douse itThe Deputy Chief Fire Officer was present on site Sanjay Manjrekar chief fire officer of MFB said ldquoThe fire was confined to four to five adjacent units in the same studio Now the fire is under control No one reported a missing person but our search operation is going onrdquoldquoThere were around 250300 people including artists technicians and other staff present on the set when the fire broke out They all moved out safely The fire spread rapidly due to combustible material and it also reached adjacent sets But timely intervention by the MFB controlled the fire and the reason behind it will be revealed out in the investigationrdquo said Avinash Dhakne MD of Maharashtra Film Stage amp Cultural Development Corporation LimitedAlso Read Thane Man feared dead as major fire engulfs houseAshish Soni who works in the Art Department unit said ldquoWhile returning from the washroom I heard some noise and saw the flames I ran towards the area where the shooting was on and alerted the unitrdquoFilm City FD also actedStaff from the Film City Fire Department unit also rushed to the spot to prevent the fire from spreading to the adjacent sets They ensured that inflammable materials from the adjacent film sites were removedAn official from Film City Managing Directorrsquos office said ldquoTimely intervention by our staff helped in preventing the fire from spreading to other sets It will be difficult to say what was the exact reason for the fire but prima facie it appears it could be a short circuitrdquoA source said ldquoThe fire was triggered by a short circuit and spread to the set of GHKKPM The entire set was gutted Fortunately the cast and crew moved out before anyone could get hurt The damage will cost the producer about R2 cr to R25 crrdquorsquoJeopardised cast and crewrsquoBN Tiwari president of Federation of Western India Cine Employees said ldquoI heard that the show makers were shooting a fire scene without a specialist action director on the set Things got out of hand and the fire spread consequently burning the entire set The authorities should file an FIR against the producer for negligence and jeopardising the life of the cast and crew This fire is the result of not taking necessary safety precautions We will be writing to the authorities to demand halt to shoots in Film City and audits of the sets by the BMC and Fire Department Only after their clearance should shootings be allowed to resumerdquo He said the serial team had 510 minutes to evacuate the unit and take as much stuff as they could They took with them some outfits and equipment But they couldnrsquot save anything else