Over 5,000 buildings in the city are virtual fire traps posing a danger to the lives and properties of citizens. These buildings include schools, hospitals, nursing homes, pent houses, malls, commercial complexes, function halls and hostels. All the 5,000 buildings either lack fire safety equipment or do not have any fire safety measure in place at all. Actually, there could be more buildings in the “fire trap” category in the city as these 5,000 are non multi-storeyed buildings (non MSBs), the height of which is less than 15 metres. These building fall under the ambit of GHMC Fire Prevention Wing.
High rises or multi-storeyed buildings with more than 15 metres height in case of residential apartments and more than 18 metres in case of commercial complexes, are under the Director General Fire Services.
GHMC Fire Prevention Wing additional director C. Lakshmi Prasad confirmed that they served notices on the owners and managements of all the buildings and institutions asking them to install fire safety equipment.
“Not many have installed fire safety equipment. It is mandatory for even non-multi-storeyed buildings where there is daily movement of a large number of people to compulsorily install fire fighting equipment. We have been holding meetings and even counseling the owners about the fact that there is no other option but to put in place all fire safety measures,” Mr Lakshmi Prasad said.