In the Delhi hospital fire, seven infants died, and concerns were raised about illegal cylinder refilling. The Rajkot gaming zone fire, which killed 27, was due to an electrical short circuit. A massive fire broke out at a children’s eye hospital in Delhi last week.
The devastating Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy in Delhi that took place on June 13, 1997, claimed the lives of 59 people, while injuring over a hundred others. Yet, we don’t want to learn from the past tragedies to secure our present and future.
In 2022, 7,435 people were killed in over 7,500 fire accidents, according to the National Crime Records Bureau of India (NCRB) report 2022. Maharashtra and Gujarat, two most highly urbanised States, account for about 30% of the country’s fire accident deaths.
The India Risk Surveys 2018 placed India in third position in fire incidents. This signifies the grave risks of fire incidents to urban habitats.
India’s urban areas are witnessing a rise in the number of fire accidents every year, signalling an urgent need to address fire safety. Fire incidents not only result in loss of life and injury but also cause significant property damage, thereby impacting the economy.
As per the, 330 deaths were reported in commercial building fires in 2019, while residential or dwelling buildings saw a staggering 6,329 fatalities.
As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 17,700 people lost their lives to fire accidents in 2015, translating to 48 deaths every day. Women constituted 62% of the total fatalities.
The primary causes of most fire accidents include electrical short circuit or gas cylinder/stove burst, human negligence, ill-formed habits.
In India, a lack of situational awareness in case a blaze erupts is a cause of major concern. Most of us are not trained to fight even a small fire, let alone knowing what needs to be done, in case one is stuck in a blaze.
Chances are, we may not even be aware of the emergency numbers to dial in such situations. This makes fire safety awareness the most crucial step towards preventing a fire.
Violating fire safety laws is common in our country. Most States have fire safety laws that are archaic in nature, but even complying with that should be welcome for a start. Many buildings do not adhere to the National Building Code and do not have fire NOCs.
We require periodical inspections to check if our buildings are fire compliant. Rapid urbanisation has given way to a lot of high-rise buildings across Indian cities. Firefighting in high-rise buildings is much more complicated. Even the evacuation process is more cumbersome.
The Fire departments are not geared with the best equipment to match the pace of growth in cities. The fire tenders find it tough to reach fire outbreak spots due to congested roads. They struggle with manpower issues.
When we look at the challenges in preventing fire outbreaks, we find that absence of uniform safety legislation is a very important issue. Fire services are managed by States, leading to inconsistencies in safety standards due to resource constraints at the municipal level. There is a significant shortfall in the number of fire stations and personnel compared to what is required. There is also the issue of poor compliance of fire safety rules.
This includes government and private buildings operating with inadequate and expired licenses, lacking fire extinguishers and emergency doors, storing inflammable items without proper safety precautions, lack of adequate emergency exits and proper assembly area in case of fire.
Then there is the issue of weak inspections and rare follow-up actions after major disasters.
The electric wiring, which generally causes fire, has to be repaired regularly. The Electricity Department must also check premises for overloading of electric circuits with the use of extra appliances.
The Fire Department must have hydraulic ladders to reach upper floors of high-rise buildings to extinguish fire. A separate lane must also be marked for fire tenders on roads to enable firefighters to reach the accident spot in the shortest possible time.
Before giving NOC to buildings, the authorities must ensure that all firefighting equipment and measures have been taken to prevent accidents on the premises. Even building designs have to be in sync with fire safety norms is very important. Fire fighters have repeatedly flagged the commercial buildings having glass façades. These buildings have been labelled as death traps.
Fire safety is not an exception; it is a necessity as lives are at stake. Self-discipline, knowledge, keeping a well maintained system and following government rules are the way to reduce such an all engulfing menace. Government must wake up now at least.
