[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

Brand Bengaluru should not be affected.

What brand bengaluru are you talking about?

The only things brand Bengaluru stands for these days is the weather which is slowly disappearing, the good water which has already disappeared, and the traffic which is never disappearing!

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

According to reports it took 20 minutes for the first 3 fire tenders to arrive. T
In any case this just demonstrates how ill-prepared we are when it comes to safety.

I don't think the case of fire tenders taking 20 minutes to arrive is true. I had read in multiple news reports that fire tenders reached the spot soon.

The firefighters arrived at the parking lot within minutes of the smoke being detected and in 20 minutes the flames were doused.

Of course, dousing the flames within 20 minutes does not mean that fire will be doused fully, rubber and plastic may cause keep smouldering for longer time.

News report


Agree on the lack of safety aspect, I too had parked at same parking lot during earlier visits to Aero India. The last time I visited, during 2015 air show, i was bit sceptical of parking in this lot since there were grass all around the place. Though, they had cut the grass it is not a completely level ground there were many areas where grass was thick. I then had moved my vehicle and parked it further away, where there was less grass to have peace of mind.

Yes, as someone mentioned above, this area belongs to Air force.

[satya0721]

Originally Posted by sudev

Makeshift car park on dry grass land is itself a recipe for disaster. Tall dry grass tends to get cut by car cross members etc. and packed underneath the car in nooks and crannies. If this happens to be next to hot exhaust pipe auto combustion happens.

Happened to me but got saved as we noticed smoke underneath before it could do damage. AFAIK three participants from Desert Storm lost their vehicles to fire in dry scrub land.

Seeing the pictures from site it stuck me as likely a cause as discarded cigarette.

Sad

The news reminded me of a video I had seen recently about a Highway patrol car that caught fire immediately after parking on dry grass. (Although he had cruised at 140 miles per hour before parking)

My heart goes out to all the people affected by this. Have not yet heard of anyone getting injured so far. Hope that is the case.

Video link :

https://youtu.be/y9feVp0RZvQ

[sachinpk]

Despite notice from fire dept, HAL went for Aero India
As per this report:-
1. HAL is the organiser for Aero India (thus making it as the main responsible entity, and not the IAF or GoI)
2. The Karnataka Fire & Rescue services had not provided their NOC to conduct the event. Yet they had allotted 37 of their fire engines (which is not a small number) to be deployed at the venue.
3. And there also seems to be many instances of the military v/s civilian agency tussle. Looks like IAF did not want the fire engines to be parked on their premises, and said that in the air base they have their own fire engines to take care of things. The Traffic Police also had similar stories to tell. With Traffic Police not allowed inside the air base, and only the Indian Air Force Police (IAFP) having their say over there. And all this when such an event (a mix of civil & military stuff) required cooperation between the two.

PS: For the Army at Bengaluru they have a small liaison unit which regularly interacts with the local police authorities (especially the Traffic Police). That is because the Army also knows that in cities like Bengaluru, Army convoys and visits of their superior officers requires close coordination with the Traffic Police (especially for route clearance and regulating civilian traffic). When it comes to dealing with civilian population in civilian territory, the Military Police do NOT have much say.

[fluke]

I am among the unfortunate ones who was present at the site and whose vehicle (a 2017 innova crysta 2.4 ZX) was completely gutted in this accident. I would say, the magnitude of the accident would have been very less if they had followed some of the basic requirements of fire safety when planning to have a car park.

1. The area from where the fire started had dried grass on one side which was roughly 1/2 ft tall. This itself is a recipe for disaster.
2. the first fire engine arrived a good 5-8 minutes after the fire started raging.
3. I heard from people on the spot that it didn't have enough water and couldn't pump it properly.
4. The next two fire engines arrived a good 10-5 minutes later. It's approach was blocked by a lot of cars driving out to escape the fire. There was no fire lane at all and was a mess.

[deadguy25]

Originally Posted by fluke

I am among the unfortunate ones who was present at the site and whose vehicle (a 2017 innova crysta 2.4 ZX) was completely gutted in this accident. I would say, the magnitude of the accident would have been very less if they had followed some of the basic requirements of fire safety when planning to have a car park.

Very sorry to hear this. Heard the insurance companies had set-up a helpdesk immediately. Was it of any help?

[fluke]

Originally Posted by deadguy25

Very sorry to hear this. Heard the insurance companies had set-up a helpdesk immediately. Was it of any help?

Thanks deadguy25. Mine is with Royal Sundaram and they were quick to respond. However, I have heard horror stories of people who were with ICICI Lombard as none of their surveyors turned up till Monday and the help desk was not helpful too.

[rajiv.kulkarni]

This warning is attached in every car manual I believe, I found one in my TATA manza manual too. It's an eye opener for sure as I was under the impression that we could park our car anywhere in a free space regardless of the type of land (dry grass cover etc..). My heart goes out to the people who learnt it the hard way.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by rajiv.kulkarni

It's an eye opener for sure as I was under the impression that we could park our car anywhere in a free space regardless of the type of land (dry grass cover etc..)

Me too. We have some land outside the city and it's usually covered with grass. Ever time we go there, we park in the field, usually with grass underneath. Will be more careful henceforth, especially during the dry months.

[abirnale]

Just got this note from FB - Sanjay Joel is known on the Sireesh Chain of Mahindra ASCs as Head of Service:



A great gesture for the affected car owner.

[vidyanand]

Originally Posted by rajiv.kulkarni

This warning is ... an eye opener for sure

Agree.

I recall few years back in US, we were parking in open in a Arboretum (big botanical park - people go there to see fall colors and picnic), the ground was dug up. I wondered why did they dig it up and made it uneven, compared to all smooth land with grass layer around. Makes sense now.

[tarik.arora]

Originally Posted by fluke

I am among the unfortunate ones who was present at the site and whose vehicle (a 2017 innova crysta 2.4 ZX) was completely gutted in this accident.

Really sorry for your loss. I am sure you will get the insurance payout soon. Have heard great reviews about royal S so far. A couple of questions:

a) I read a news that the vehicle owners are demanding road-tax waiver for their new car purchase as they will be loosing a lot of money even after insurance claims, is this true? and has the government responded so far?
b) Are the damaged vehicles still parked there? or has those been taken under insurance provider custody?

[fluke]

Originally Posted by tarik.arora

Really sorry for your loss. I am sure you will get the insurance payout soon. Have heard great reviews about royal S so far. A couple of questions:


a) I read a news that the vehicle owners are demanding road-tax waiver for their new car purchase as they will be loosing a lot of money even after insurance claims, is this true? and has the government responded so far?

Thanks tarik. Mine is under process. What you heard is correct. RTOs are processing the road-tax refunds. Initially the RC cancellation and Road Tax refunds were going the usual way - entangled in the bureaucratic web. Once this has been highlighted to the govt., the RTOs have become really efficient. I am yet to hear from anybody who has got the amount credited, but looks like it is on track.
The police too is following up on insurance folks who are unnecessarily delaying the process.

Originally Posted by tarik.arora

b) Are the damaged vehicles still parked there? or has those been taken under insurance provider custody?

Few have been taken away - primarily who had only 3rd party insurance. Each insurance provider is following a different approach - some insists the owner need to dispose it off while some of them does it on their own.

[Funny]

This is such a tragic loss of automobiles. My heart goes out to all those who have been affected by this freak accident.

Some key points from latest news:
* The payouts have already started for those cars which were identifiable. 11 cheques have been handed over so far by Home Minister at Vidhana Soudha.
* Totally 277 vehicles are affected out of which 251 are declared as "total loss" and the rest of 26 as "partial loss".
* Out of 277 damaged vehicles, 60 are unidentifiable hence there will be a delay in processing claims for those vehicles.

Source: TOI

[redCherry]

Originally Posted by fluke

The police too is following up on insurance folks who are unnecessarily delaying the process.

With such massive no. of vehicles affected and so many insurance claims under different vendors, may be it would have been a good idea to have a poll/ratings of different insurance providers based on feedback from the people who were affected, but then not all of them are team-bhp members.