The world was his oyster
I loved my nephew, Akhil. Everyone who knew him well did. An easygoing, soft-spoken, smiling, and caring young man, the 23-year-old doted on his differently-abled younger sister, helping his parents care for her. Akhil had a business degree, was excited by his work with a US-headquartered investment banking company in Bengaluru, and was full of plans for the future. “Mukund Uncle, when I come to Manhattan, I’ll come and visit you,” he told me during my visit to India over Deepawali in October of 2009.
On February 23, 2010, Akhil left for work in his newly-acquired car, carrying a special gift for his girlfriend whom he planned to meet for dinner that evening – a meeting destined not to happen.
Our world goes up in flames
It became known as the Carlton Towers Fire all over India. Around 4 pm on that fateful afternoon of 23rd February, a fire broke out in this seven-story building on Bengaluru’s Old Airport Road. Smoke and flames quickly billowed through the top three floors. Stairwells and emergency exits were either blocked or inaccessible. People were trapped. Traffic congestion prevented the swift arrival of fire and emergency vehicles. Nine people died from asphyxiation, or from their fall as they leapt from the upper floors to escape the flames. 70 people were seriously injured, some requiring hospitalization for months. Akhil was among the first to call and inform the emergency authorities; he was also one of the nine fatalities from this fire. No one in his company, which had its offices on the top floor, survived.
The fire and its aftermath highlighted severe lapses and even negligence in adherence to fire safety measures in high-rise structures all over India. A probe conducted by the State’s Electrical Inspectorate concluded that the Carlton Tower fire was due to improperly laid aluminum power cables to a company on a lower floor of the building. Abrasion or deterioration of the cables over time caused sparks, resulting in the fire that spread to the upper floors through ventilation ducts.
Rising from the ashes
Human resilience is remarkable. When tragedy strikes and we are in the depths of despair and grief, with our world lying shattered all around us, a spark often ignites within us. It gives us the courage and resolve to rise from our despair and make something of the tragedy; to ensure our grievous loss is not in vain. This was the case for Uday Vijayan, Akhil’s father. Still grieving over the loss of his son, Uday founded the registered charitable trust Beyond Carlton as a legacy to the nine precious souls who lost their lives in the Carlton Towers fire. He currently serves as its managing trustee and president. In the fifteen years since the tragedy, Beyond Carlton has become a nationally recognized advocacy organization, pushing for fire safety awareness, and concerted action at individual, collective, municipal, state, and national levels. Through his efforts, Bengaluru now sees improved fire safety standards. New buildings have mandatory safety features including required regular inspections, fire drills, and compulsory resident training programs. Working alongside the State’s Fire and Emergency Services and civic organizations like Janaagraha, Beyond Carlton also launched a city-specific blueprint to make Bengaluru 100% fire-safe in five years. It advocates vigorously for fire-safety action and awareness in the local media and through public fire-safety events it holds in the community.
The human factor
We know all too well about the deadly wildfires in California. A report from UC Santa Barbara estimates that over seven million acres have burned in California in the decade between 2013 and 2023 – resulting in incalculable loss of human life, property, and natural resources. While Mother Nature often has a hand in the origin and spread of fires, human actions rooted in carelessness, neglect, indifference, apathy, ignorance, malicious intent, or other factors, are very often the root cause for fires in homes and outdoors that we hear of around the world. The end of a sari accidentally catches fire from a stove in a kitchen in India, engulfing the woman of the house preparing the evening meal. A cigarette butt is tossed from the window of a car into the dry brush alongside a highway in the US, resulting in thousands of acres burned down, homes destroyed, and lives lost.
Grim statistics highlight the impact
Data from the National Crime Records Bureau in India show that more than 25,000 people – 60 per day – die from fire-related causes. Two-thirds of the victims are women. Fire accounts for six percent of all deaths in India; most of these are preventable. Electrical faults and short circuits, negligence and ill-formed habits were listed as the primary causes in these reports.
The data on fire-related fatalities and injuries in the US are equally shocking. The National Fire Protection Association reports that in 2023, 1,389,000 fires resulted in 3,670 civilian deaths, 89 firefighter deaths, and 13,350 injuries. It is estimated that nationwide, a fire department responds to a fire every 23 seconds. Fires in single-family homes were reported on average every 95 seconds, with injuries from such fires occurring every 52 minutes and deaths every three hours. Single-family and two-family home fires account for 67.8% of all civilian deaths and 55.8% of injuries. Apartment structure fires account for 10.9% of deaths and 20.5% of injuries.
What can you and I do?
Are you shocked by these numbers the way I was? How many of you reading this article have lost a loved one needlessly to a fire, or know about someone who has? We have to work to prevent such loss. We must all get better educated about fire and other hazards around us, and eliminate or mitigate them. We must become better advocates, informing our friends, neighbors, and community members. We should support organizations like Beyond Carlton in India and others in the US that advocate for fire safety. Where necessary, we need to review and correct our habits. Let’s be vigilant and proactive in our communities, promoting safety and well-being where we live, work, and play. “If you see something, say something” as law enforcement officials often tell us.
Let’s make sure that Akhil and the countless others who have died needlessly in fire-related tragedies did not lose their lives in vain.
Santa Clara County fire safety resources
Fire Prevention Overview from Santa Clara County
Community Education Programs on Fire Safety