THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Fire Safety Audit, conducted by the Fire and Rescue Services at the Chalai market three months ago seems to have hardly yielded any results. The incident that happened last Thursday when a scrap shop was gutted brings to the fore the lack of preventive mechanisms.
Fire Safety Audit?
Fire safety audit is an effective tool for assessing fire safety standards of an organisation or occupancy. A comprehensive audit should address the inherent fire hazards associated with day-to-day activities in an occupancy and recommend measures to reduce the hazards. An audit was completed three months ago.
Says A Hemachandran, Director General of Fire and Rescue Services, “We conducted the audit covering East Fort and Chalai market and made a slew of recommendations to various departments.
However, some shops accepted the norms while some didn’t. For instance, it was found that many commercial establishments were told to install electrical power supply as per the guidelines. We can only recommend but the departments concerned have to implement it,” he said.
Fire hydrants
Another recommendation was the introduction of fire hydrants. The fire force had identified vulnerable locations at Chalai and East Fort.
It would also identify and maintain nearby water sources to replenish fire engines rapidly. This recommendation is also pending before the district administration. It is learnt that the file has been least prioritised.
Meanwhile, the traders of Chalai blame the authorities for apathy. “We are at the receiving end. Though several fire accidents took place, the authorities don’t care. We are ready to bring changes. But, the authorities respond only when an accident takes place, said Mohammed Kunju, a trader. ]
However, Fire and Rescue Services officials have decided to bring awareness among the traders of Chalai about steps to be taken during an emergency situation.
Behra’s recommendation remains on paper
The decision to set in place a high-end fire accident mechanism for narrow and crowded stretches is also yet to take off.
The department had proposed the mechanism in early 2016 when the present state police chief Loknath Behera was the Director General of Fire and Rescue Services. He had put forth the proposal following a series of fire outbreaks in markets including the Chalai market.
Behra, however, is confident of preventing fire accidents in future, as they had submitted the safety audit to the civic authorities three months ago.