Fire and Rescue Services Department wants fire safety

Chennai:The Fire and Rescue Services Department wants fire safety in high rise buildings to be improved.Many commercial malls and multi-storeyed apartment blocks in the city do not have their fire fighting systems in proper working condition, except for a few buildings which are 15 metres high or more, according to a senior officer of the Fire and Rescue Service department.This poses a serious risk to the people living in such high-rise buildings and shoppers at malls, the officer said on Thursday.

Substantiating his point, he pointed out that when fire tenders rushed to a multi-storeyed shopping mall on G.N. Chetty Road on Thursday afternoon, firemen found there was no fire fighting system there.The fire broke out from a spark in the power cables. With no outlet for the smoke to escape, two persons working in a shop there complained of suffocation.This is only the tip of the iceberg, he said, pointing out that even fire fighting equipment installed at many places did not work properly. In many buildings, there was no first aid kit or basic safety provisions.

There is an urgent need to raise public awareness about fire safety, he said. Recently, when the Indian Oil Corporation conducted a mock drill exercise as part of the fire safety week, a senior officer of the company expressed concern at the lack of preparedness among the employees.The official also pointed out flaws in the procedures that are followed in the event of a fire.In another fire reported near Casino Theatre two months ago, fire service personnel found that there was no emergency exit when a fire broke out in the basement of the building. Builders should make provisions for such emergencies, the officer said.The government should make it mandatory for high-rise builders to obtain safety certificate from the department.

Now, builders approached the Fire and Rescue Service Department to inspect the buildings only when the buyers, non-resident Indians in most cases, insisted on validation of the fire safety measures.While admitting that the Department faced a shortage of manpower for inspecting the buildings, the officials underlined the need for the government to act on this.With the number of multi-storeyed complex and huge shopping malls coming up in many areas in and around the city, the local bodies should also be pro-active and accord top priority to fire prevention aspects, the officer said.