The fire protection chapter in the National Building Code (NBC) has been adopted by most municipal corporations as part of their building bye-laws. This requirement is at the time of grant of occupancy certificate assuming that no changes are carried out in a building (high-rise) after it is occupied. Unfortunately this is not so in many high-rises because of lack of understanding of the various occupiers who carry out changes inadvertently and without the knowledge of the authority concerned. This is one of the major causes of fire in high-rises. Therefore there is a need for the Fire Inspection Service to periodically inspect premises to check for deviations and recommend corrective measures, which can then be enforced by the authority.
There are a number of violations and lacunae in buildings after occupation. Some of them are:
Fire load (the amount of combustible material) in a building depends on the occupancy, namely, residential, commercial and industrial. The fire due to the fire loads are of increasing magnitude, say 1:2:4. Hence periodic inspections should be more frequent in the order, say 1,2,4 inspections respectively in a year. The loads further increase during use due to addition of furniture, furnishings and other inflammable materials. These additions increase the fire hazard. In the U.K., the greater London County Council insists on owners getting approval whenever there is a change in the fire load. Closing of doors — Doors not only serve the purpose of entry but also function as exits in the event of fire. In high-rises they are closed by the occupants without realising the danger created.
Storing of hazardous materials — Storing of papers, files, LPG cylinders, paints and similar inflammable articles in the staircase or basement or terrace or unused spaces will lead to higher fire load and consequent higher risk. The structural components of an occupancy are designed for a defined fire load and not more.
Plugging in several electrical appliances — Generally several appliances are plugged on to the same electrical outlet. This leads to heating up of the outlet and possibility of starting of fire. More often than not, electrical short-circuiting leads to a fire and feeds the inflammable materials stored nearby.
Access — Construction of bunks, etc., in the open spaces meant as access for fire fighters. All high-rises need to have sufficient front, back and side open spaces meant essentially as free, unobstructed passages for the fire-fighting force. Though these spaces are given at the time of grant of occupancy certificate, additions such as bunks and kiosks are made in these open spaces, creating obstructions. This will lead to a loss of precious minutes for the fire force to enter the building. It must be remembered that the first 15 minutes after start of a blaze is crucial when the fire force can effectively prevent spread of fire to other areas.
Training of security personnel — The security personnel for high-rises hardly know how to use fire extinguishers or get ready the other equipment. In fact these people should be in the vanguard of fighting the fire by informing the residents, the fire services and all actions preceding the arrival of fire services at the site.
Periodic maintenance of fire equipment — As per NBC norms fire installations such as, smoke detectors, heat detectors, stand pipe hydrants, fire extinguishers and so on are not at all maintained in high-rises. This results in their failure when most needed and leads to loss of life and property.
Staircase doors — These doors must always be closed automatically to prevent smoke entering the stairwell in the event of fire inside the premises. Remember that lifts shall not be used for escape and only stairs shall be used and therefore it must be free of smoke. More fatalities occur due to asphyxiation than due to fire.
Property managers — All high-rises have property maintenance managers. They should, in tandem with the security personnel, ensure that all systems for fire-fighting are in order all the time. They cannot take any chances with fire since it can occur any time.
Fire drill — In all high-rises and in particular apartments, periodic fire drills must be made obligatory. Senior citizens will always get trapped in the event of a fire since no information is available of the location of the fire and the route to escape. So, periodic fire drills will help them and also the others. Of course the public address system should swing into action immediately as part of the drill.
Role of the government — Since the fire services have to be always on alert and on call at short notice and may not be able to undertake such an extensive audit, the government should get all high-rise buildings inspected from the fire safety point of view by experts in the field and insist on the owners of high-rises implementing all the recommendations. This will certainly save men and material. These experts could form the fire inspection service.
