HYDERABAD: As the smoke billowing from Notre Dame’s massive fire left the world in shock in its wake, the mishap raises important questions about fire safety of religious buildings. Back home in the city, Express takes a look at the fire safety of city’s mani iconic cathedrals. Going by the situation in the city’s four major churches -- St Joseph’s Cathedral in Gun Foundry, St George’s Church in Basheerbagh, St Mary’s Church in Secunderabad and All Saints Church in Trimulgherry—the condition of fire safety remains very poor.
The Gothic-style of architecture is known for its ambitious and towering heights, made possible with the use of the lighter construction material, wood. Brought to India in the British era, the Gothic style has imprinted itself across the country, and also in the city’s cathedrals, dating back 100s of years.
The St Joseph’s Cathedral, for instance, is a nearly 200-year-old church, making it one of the oldest in the city. The church had gone through extensive renovation between 2004 and 2008 and many new lighting and electrical fixtures were installed. Apart from that, it has numerous wooden structures in the form of chairs, benches and other furniture, which collectively add to the inflammability of the structure.
When its clergy, Father Bala was asked about the fire safety standards followed and installed, he said, “Nothing. We don’t have any extinguishers or anything. I am sure that none of the churches in the city have any fire safety equipment.” Same was the case with Secunderabad’s St Mary’s Church, whose construction was initiated by an Irish missionary in the 1840s and was once the largest church of erstwhile Hyderabad State. In the main hall of its Ind0-Gothic style of architecture, which is abundant with wooden structures and electrical fittings, no fire extinguishers could be found. Officials at the church refused to talk to Express.
Similar was the state in Trimulgherry’s All Saints Church, whose architecture stands out with its multitude of turrets and a tower belfry. The interior of the church is heavily designed with wood, with its planks, and yet doesn’t have any fire extinguishers, confirmed a church official. Lastly, in St George’s Church, Basheerbagh, which houses a 109-year-old pipe organ, though the situation presently was the same, its parish claimed that they do have fire safety measures.
Reverend Prashant Babu, parish of the St George’s Church said that they have six fire extinguishers which are currently being refilled. “The members of our congregation include security officials who had insisted us to take measures. We are also planning to install ‘breakers’, which in case of a short circuit or an electrical fire, can contain it.”
‘in India, altering religious buildings for fire safety could offend people’
According to rules, every religious place—church, temple or a mosque—is bound to have proper fire safety measures. But in spite of many instances of rules-flouting reported, there have been no incidents of action being taken action against the authorities responsible. A fire safety official, on the condition of anonymity, rued, “This is India. One might take offence to the idea of altering religious structures for accommodating fire safety measures.”
Based on the crowd movement, temples are more prone to fire mishaps than churches or mosques, and yet the State Fire Department issued many no-objection certificates to religious structures recently, he said. According to law, “Any person proposing to construct...buildings of public congregation...which are more than 500 sq m in area or 6 meters and above in height shall apply for a no objection certificate.” The official said that these were new religious institutions and the problematic and the risky ones were the old structures