A man who works at a travel agency on Park Street was 36 years old on March 23, 2010, when a devastating fire at Stephen Court killed 43 people.

Md. Shahid Hussain was one of the several good Samaritans who helped save lives that day. Hussain, now 50, rushed to the Park Street-Camac Street intersection on Tuesday as well, with the same objective.

But, he found the firefighting was much more organised on Tuesday than it was 14 years ago.

“Around 10.40pm, smoke reached our office (barely 100m from the spot of the fire). We rushed out to see what happened. I went running and what I saw scared me,” said Hussain, who lives in Topsia with his mother, wife and two daughters, aged 14 and eight.

“A fire was raging and endless plumes of smoke kept billowing out of the building. It was difficult to locate the origin of the fire. People came rushing from all sides to see what was happening. Within minutes, a large crowd gathered. As is the norm, many people took their phones out to capture what they were seeing,” he recounted.

Hussain saw the fire brigade reaching the spot within “10-15 minutes”.

“One tender came first, then the second and then they kept coming. Police ambulances also arrived soon, as did a CESC team,” he said.

Hussain stayed put for the next couple of hours. He saw an “organised operation”.

“Barricades were put up promptly to keep the onlookers out. Repeated announcements were made with hailers, asking people present in the building to step out. The working hours usually start at 11am and many employees had yet to reach the office,” he said.

The cylinders were brought out.

The firefighters targeted the blaze from multiple points — outside the Camac Street entry, a nationalised bank on the same road and another entry to the compound on Park Street.

“After some 90 minutes, the fire started losing steam. The smoke took more time to be subdued,” he said.

What he saw on Tuesday was in stark contrast to the Stephen Court fire.

“That was a much bigger fire. It was a lot more chaotic. Mainly because many people were trapped. I will never forget the scene of people jumping off the higher floors,” he said.

Hussain and many other bystanders had rushed to help. They pointed many trapped people towards Flurys, where firefighters had managed to keep a ladder.

“The skylifts that the fire brigade had brought were not working. But the normal ladder helped many people climb down to safety,” he said.

Hussain and many others had tried to open a bedding store to bring some cushions and curtains out so people jumping from the floors above could land on them.

“But the store was shut just as the fire started. We could not get anyone to open it,” he said.