Almost one-and-a-half years after the Carlton Tower fire tragedy, the city continues to remain short on fire stations and adequate fire-fighting equipment to tackle fire incidents, said Uday Vijayan, managing trustee and president, Beyond Carlton.
Almost one-and-a-half years after the Carlton Tower fire tragedy, the city continues to remain short on fire stations and adequate fire-fighting equipment to tackle fire incidents, said Uday Vijayan, managing trustee and president, Beyond Carlton.
At a seminar on ‘Engineering a safe and secure India,’ on Friday, Vijayan, who lost his son Akhil in the Carlton fire tragedy, said that Bangalore, which should have sanction strength of 79 fire stations, only has 13 in existence.
“According to the findings of a study done by the State Fire and Emergency Services, the city should have 79 fire stations. However, there are only 13 stations and the government has approved only seven more. This apart, the fire fighting equipment with the fire department is inadequate. There is a need for ladders which can reach up to 30 floors of a building. But Bangalore has just two long ladders but that too can reach only up to 17 floors. Are they waiting for another tragedy to strike before buying more and better ladders?” he questioned.
“There is a lot of apathy in India towards fire safety, even the public does not think it is important and feels it would never happen to them,” he said.
Narrating his experience post the Carlton tragedy that resulted in the loss of nine lives, Vijayan said that the awareness on fire safety among the average citizen was very low.
“We had conducted a survey among the public on what number they should dial if they very trapped in a fire situation. Most respondents did not know that they should dial 101 in case of fire emergency. Some of them said that the emergency number is 100, some thought it is 102 and a few suggested calling the US!” he said.
He also said that the standard operating procedure adopted by the fire and emergency department was outdated.
“My son Akhil was the only person who called the fire station on that fateful day. When I asked the authorities to provide the transcripts of the call to hear his voice, they said they do not have it as they only registered his complaint in their record book,” he said.
SK Dheri, former chief fire officer, Delhi Fire Services too agreed that the awareness among the public while dealing with fire accidents was poor.
“Be it Carlton Towers or Upahar in New Delhi, most died due to asphyxiation or panic and not burn injuries. There is a need to educate public along with ensuring that norms are followed by the concerned authorities strictly,” he said.
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