Town Hall: 'We'll procure equipment for sure'
GVMC station fire officer N Gopi Krishna said that every building needs fire extinguishers, water tanks with motor, fire hydrant points and hose reel drums.
But, the heritage buildings promptly give these norms a go-by. The Town Hall built to commemorate the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria was handed over to the then municipality around 110 years ago. This building which is known for its history dating back to 1890 now plays venue to weddings and other celebrations on a regular basis. Senior citizens also gather here to read books or play indoor games. However, this building has no fire-fighting equipment. “We will procure the equipment definitely in one or two months,” said Raju Patrudu, secretary of the Town Hall.
Collectorate: Fire extinguishers for record room only
VISAKHAPATNAM: In the last six months, the Port City has witnessed almost half-a-dozen fire accidents in various industrial units forcing the authorities to conduct safety audits to check compliance of norms. But, it appears the administration hasn’t learnt any lesson from it. Many key government premises functioning from heritage buildings seem to be oblivious to the perceptible threats from not having adequate fire-fighting equipment.
The Collectorate building, the very citadel of the district administration, lags behind in this regard. Built in 1913, the building has no fire extinguishers installed either in its corridors or in other sections from which the entire district administration functions. The building which receives numerous footfalls of officers, staffers and common citizens has only two fire extinguishers in the collector’s record room. The six fire buckets available there are found to be buried under heaps of files which means they can’t be used in emergency. “Some fire extinguishers were installed earlier. But, those were removed to take up renovation works post Hudhud cyclone.
Those will be reinstalled after the completion of the works,” BS Prakash Rao, administrative officer of the Collectorate, said after Express inquired about the availability of fire-safety equipment in the building. Asked about the preparedness for any emergency, he replied: “We have not approached for any superlative measures as the building never witnessed any major fire accidents since its inception.”
Vizag Railway station to get smoke detectors
Vizag railway station which receives more than 60,000 passengers per day with around 100 trains passing through it has not more 4 to 5 fire extinguishers on the station premises. The officials say there are about 20 extinguishers in the carrier and wagon office which will be used in the need.
“we have extinguishers installed in three to four areas near parcel office, station master’s office and enquiry department and few areas. We did not have any on the platforms as they might be misused by the passengers,” said senior divisional safety officer AK Moharana.
He also informed that they would add 20 more fire extinguishers and plans are afoot to get 3 to 4 smoke detectors for each platform which will immediately identify the risk. “We will send proposal to the authorities soon,” he informed.
No extinguisher at RTC bus station
The RTC bus depot with thousands of passengers travelling every day has no fire extinguisher installed on the depot premises. However, there are two in the power room which are changed periodically.
“The depot is under renovation. After that we will put extinguishers on the depot premises,” said A Bhaskar Reddy, special duty depot manager.