A Fierce Fiasco
Fire an otherwise good servant, can become a bad master as well

By Pratiksha Singh
Losses occurring due to fire are a national loss because 'what burns never returns.' Amongst all hazards, fire and fire related accidents carry a high degree of risk and pose a great danger. All fires invariably cause loss of property both of private and government origin besides causing loss of lives/ injuries. And what increases the potential of a fire hazard are facts like increased usage of electricity, LPG and hazardous chemicals It is quintessential to have proper blend of in-built fire safety measures in building/premises as per the specifications, their proper servicing and maintenance and also the existence of well equipped public service for fire extinguishing which reduces the fire risk to great extent. Fires are largely man-made disasters caused mostly by negligence, poor maintenance or sabotage.

“The increased number of fire accidents are mainly due to a lack of fire safety norms including various aspects like storage of inflammable material in godowns and enforcement measures.” says Dharamveer Singh Yadav, assistant divisional officer, Safdurjung Fire Station.

The occurrence of fire is heavily tilted towards urban conglomerations with high rises and slums bunched into tight, flammable pockets, landfills with slow burning garbage, bad means of plastic and polythene bags’ disposal, and factories with inadequate fire protection. In the countryside, forest fires simmer unabated during hot summers ignited by locals clearing land, illegal loggers and poachers covering their track or just carelessness. Fires are common phenomena usually happening during dry season, and could be grouped into various types like:

• Fire accidents in squatter settlements in the towns and cities,
  
• General fire accidents in cities,
  
• Industrial fire accidents,
  
• Coal mine fires,
  
• Forest fires.

“Fires are not just physio – chemical phenomena but also related to social factors with varying frequency of fire incidents, loss pattern and extension techniques. The fire at Uphaar cinema hall in June 1997 was a great tragedy where everything that could have gone wrong did.” adds Yadav. “From my long experience in the department of fire, I have realised that success and efficiency of any fire service department depends not only upon the fleet of men and machines they handle, however modern and sophisticated they may be, but also depends on how the general people, the owner, occupier or management of such high risk buildings are taking care of fire prevention and protection measures“, added Yadav.

It is a proven fact that the number of fire incidents is increasingly occurring day by day specially in the high risk buildings like high rise residential buildings, industrial, commercial, business and mercantile establishments including amusements centres, etc. In each case fire continues to extract an enormous and dreadful toll that knows no bound of losses in the form of wasteful destruction of buildings, properties, plants equipments, raw materials, historic & cultural treasures and above all lives.

Some Historical Fires
Great Bombay Dock Fire - April 14, 1944: The fire broke out on "S.S. Fort Stricken" which was carrying 1200 tonnes of explosives. 336 persons died and 1040 got injured including 66 and 89 fire service men respectively. Enormous flames of fire spread in 100 acres and 14 other ships were set ablaze by explosions, which were recorded 1000 miles away in Shimla even.

Arson Fires of Vijayawada in 1964 and 1966: Most of the thatched residential areas of Vijayawada were gutted when thousands of people became homeless. Large numbers of fire engines were brought from neighbouring districts and from Hyderabad and many police personnel were deployed to ensure law and order.

Fire in Hindustan Times Building, Delhi -February 13, 1980: 17 floors high multi-storeyed commercial building caught fire. The fire was noticed on 14th floor but it actually started on the 8th floor. 22 fire tenders and 2 Hydraulic Platforms were employed to extinguish the fire. Extensive damage occurred on and above 8th floor.

Cochin Oil Refinery Fire - March 8, 1984: At 0542 hours, an explosion occurred in Aviation Turbine Fuel tank and was followed by a devastating fire. The fire spread to Raw Naphtha tanks nearby. Six fire engines extinguished the fire. Four persons were killed, property worth Rupees 12 crores was damaged including the cooling tower, and turbo-generator house including the chemical
warehouse that was gutted.

Uphaar Theatre Fire in Delhi - June 13, 1997: During the screening of a film in the cinema hall a fire started at 5 P.M. in the evening. The source of fire was a transformer in basement where a three phase terminal box of the transformer became loose due to overheating. The casualties were 57 dead (24 men, 20 women, 13 children) and 105 injured (62 men, 31 women, 12 children).

School Fire in Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu - July 16, 2004: A fire broke out in the kitchen on the ground floor of the Lord Krishna Middle School when the mid-day meal for children was being cooked. It spread to a row of classes with thatched roof, where students from Class-I to V were present and about 300 children were in the nursery section on the third floor of the school. More than 100 small students, mostly girls, and some teachers were charred to death and 100 others injured. The children had severe bum injuries and many had died of asphyxiation or suffocation as the passage from the classrooms was narrow preventing their escape. The school complex lacked fire-fighting system.

Government Policies
All states have fire safety norms legislated under relevant acts like the Delhi Fire Services Rules 1987 in Delhi. All districts and municipal corporations have their own fire brigades. The responsibility of disaster management, in case of building fire, falls under the Department of Home, Urban Development, Municipal Corporation, Water Board; Divisional Commissioner, Home Guards and Civil Defence.

Building Codes
Most disaster events, in addition to causing direct damage are also responsible to cause damage to gas, water and sewage pipe, and water lines. They also cause electrical short-circuits endangering life due to consequent fire and electrocution. Hence compliance to guidelines, standard codes, standard guidelines etc. covering these aspects will have to be addressed as 'good practice' by Building Codes, Byelaws, and related Acts etc.

A building code implies a collection of laws, regulations, ordinances or other statutory requirements adopted by a government legislative authority involved with physical structure, health and safety conditions of the occupants of the buildings and its neighbourhood, other requirements of the society and environmental protection. These play a major part in proper engineering, design, construction and quality control and also offer the base for techno-legal measures for enforcement.

For a large country like ours with varied climatic, geological conditions and cultural aspects, it would be necessary to have a hierarchy of codes at national, state and local government level.

The national level building code may be treated as a model building code. Such a code provides an accessible source of comprehensive, contemporary, accepted and respected technical requirements without the difficulties and expense of investigation, research, drafting and promulgation of individual local building codes.

Conclusion
It is evident that the first five minutes are more important than the next five hours in disaster management. In case of fire management, reaction time is very essential to control the spread of fire thereby reducing the loss of lives and damage to property. However, there are constraints like old equipment, inadequate number of fire stations, and lack of quick communication system. Even inadequacy of water sources is also another contributory and critical factor.

“In any cluster, the requirement to ensure fire safety is making provisions of six-meter wide access road, underground and overhead water tank with capacity of 50,000 and 10,000 liters respectively. Periodical fire fighting practices held are very few. Thus, it is difficult to assess the weaknesses in the system. Fire prevention should be treated as everybody's responsibility and awareness level of this disaster must be raised. Mutual aid schemes should be updated and reviewed during the mock exercises. ” implored Yadav.
Proper checking, testing and well maintenance of all fire and life safety equipments are also important. Regardless of their type and number of life safety and fire protective features used by the high-risk buildings become unless they function in the required way in an emergency situation. In addition to that, developing attitude of fire consciousness among the general people and gathering knowledge related to prevention and protection of fire is unquestionably important and necessary.

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