Ahmedabad: No mandate to get fire NOC puts low-rise buildings at risk

The fire at Apple Multi Speciality Children's Hospital where 18 babies and 400 people had a narrow escape has once again brought to focus the fire safety norms in buildings. 

It should be noted that low rise buildings as was the case in the above incident are not required to get No Object Certificate (as is usually the case with high rises) from the Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services(AFES) Department. They however are expected to maintain adequate number of fire extinguishers and have fire safety alarms too. But, with no mandatory checks whether low rises in the city have these adequate facilities is anyone's guess.

A fire official in the know said there is mechanism to check if low rise units have the requisite number of fire extinguishers and such. “Ideally occasional checks should be carried out on such buildings but with the department facing staff shortage it is wishful to ask for. Moreover, it is not mandatory too,” said the official.

Rajesh Bhatt, Additional Chief fire officer of AFES said the department follows the National Building Code guidelines.” As per the General Development and Construction rules (GDCR) and State Gujarat State Fire Prevention and Safety Measure Act, the buildings which are categorized as low rise building would not need a No objection certificate from Fire department." said Bhatt. He however said places like hospitals, schools, institutes, multiplex, factories that come under the special category (even when they are low rise buildings) have to get NOC from the fire department. 

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In the fire incident of Thursday, since the building was not exclusively a hospital it did not have to get a NOC but had to ensure that it had fire extinguishers, fire alarms and such in place.

Bhatt said each fire is unique and a variety of factors determine how long it will take to contain it. 

“You can't generalise as it depends on the fire hazard and fire load of a particular incident. But high rises are more difficult to approach if a fire is to be extinguished because after a certain height even the machines have certain limitation. In low rise buildings we can approach it easily and are able to control it,” said Bhatt.

NEED TERRACE ACCESS

As per fire officials, there terrace or roof of the building shouldn't have any illegal construction and it should be open. During a fire incident if the fire officials are not able to get access to an internal approach from the entry gate to rescue the people who are inside the building. The officials can rescue the people from the terrace by using an external ladder, but if their illegal construction of the terrace it pose a threat to life.