Another fireman was about to enter Peeragarhi building but was stopped in the nick of time

Delhi Fire Service personnel Amit Pawar, brother-in-law of Amit Balyan, the fireman who lost his life during a rescue operation in northwest Delhi's Peeragarhi, was also about to enter the building to pull out people trapped under the debris but was stopped by his senior as the structure had turned too dangerous, his family said on Friday.

Initially, Pawar was unaware his brother-in-law was among the three fire personnel trapped under the debris. Only after he checked the batch number of the DFS personnel, he got to know about Balyan.

"Pawar checked the batch number of people trapped and when he saw 100/65, he got to know Balyan was also among three firemen under debris," Ankur, the younger brother-in-law of Balyan, said.

Pawar, who is posted at Pitampura fire station, and his team members were about to enter the building but their senior officer stopped them as the "condition of the building was not good," Ankur said.

On Thursday morning, a portion of the building that housed a manufacturing unit of inverter batteries collapsed following an explosion due to a fire that had broken out there. The blaze started in the basement of the three-storey building around 4 am and soon engulfed it. More than 50 fire tenders and 300 personnel were deployed to douse the fire.

The case has been transferred to the Crime Branch, police said. Ankur, who works in Gurgaon, said he got to know about the incident around 2 pm on Thursday.

The DFS staff paid tributes to Balyan Friday morning in Rohini.

"Officers and staff of DFS paid their last homage and tribute to the gallant Fire Fighter late Sh. Amit Kumar, who lost his life during the fire fighting operation at D-7 Udyog Nagar, Delhi on 02.01.2020 The tribute ceremony was held at FSMA Rohini at 0700," Delhi Fire Service director Atul Garg tweeted.

The street in Meet Nagar where Balyan lived was calm. Several people visited his home to console the family.

Shivani, Balyan's wife, said, "I last spoke to him around midnight. I took an off on Thursday as he had promised to take me out for some work. Later, I came to know that there was a fire incident. Initially, I thought it was a normal fire call.

"When I realised that he was stuck inside, I got scared and everyone was assuring me he will be fine. The moment I hear the news of his death, I got numb and could not even move out of the house".

Rohit, Balyan's cousin, said, "He was very happy after being selected for DFS. I spoke to him a couple of ago and asked him about his job. He said everything was fine and he was performing well."