Jamshedpur, June 1: With mercury levels moving upwards, the city has registered a sudden rise in fire accidents for the last few months giving the jitters to the officials and occupants of the high rise buildings.
Meanwhile, the fire services department has sounded a general alert asking people to take precautions but lack of proper safety arrangements still remain major concern. Since the peak of summer, the fire control is receiving nearly a dozen distress calls every day as against the normal average of five to eight calls in rainy and winter seasons. According to information several high rise buildings in the area like Jugsalai, Sakchi, Mango, Pursuih and Baghbera stills lack fire safety facilities.
All local civic bodies in the city have been directed to conduct fire safety audits in private establishments such as malls, multiplexes, hotels and hospitals in the next three months and submit the report. They have also been directed to conduct the audit of their own buildings.
Days after the fire gutted tyres at Mango, the administration has asked vici bodies to complete the fire safety audit of their own buildings by the empanelled agencies.
They were also directed to follow up with the departments concerned to ensure that the discrepancies and necessary compliances are met within the specified time. The civic bodies have been directed to conduct fire safety audits of malls, restaurants, starred hotels, commercial establishments and offices in the next three months.
“The recent mishap at Mango is an eye opener. This would help the administration in creating awareness about the measures to be taken in the time of emergency and will also help build confidence among the employees. Top officials from every floor have been appointed as field marshals, who will take care of the evacuation of the people from their respective floors,” said an official.
Regarding the fire safety arrangements of the multi-storied buildings, he lamented that no public agency had ever physically inspected the fire of the tall buildings of both residential and commercial status fighting facilities. Fire safety issues have become one of the major issues of concern for the urban population here in recent years, especially following the major fire cases that occurred since the onset of summer.
A senior district official said that the builders of the high- rise structures seldom cared for the amount of free space they were leaving around their projects, and some of the buildings had even been erected on narrow streets that could hardly host a fire engine carrying fire -fighters or an ambulance, in case of an emergency. He suggested deployment of trained private fire fighters at the high- rise buildings, alongside adequate fire safety devices.
