Mumbai: In city ravaged by fires, compliance remains key

Seven separate fire incidents have ravaged the city in the last week, claiming 15 lives. From a five-star hotel to industrial units to hospitals, the multiple fires have caused large-scale loss of life and property. Fire department officials have refused to draw any parallels in the spurt of fire incidents, although they did underline the responsibility of establishment owners for greater compliance of safety measures.

On Sunday alone, there were three incidents. There was a fire in a garment factory in Damu Nagar, Kandivali, which claimed four lives, followed by a fire in a Mahim slum that left a boy critically injured. Another fire hit Khar's New Beauty Saloon, and while there were no casualties, the seven-storey building's fire safety system was shown to be dysfunctional. Another fire at ESIC Hospital in Marol claimed 11 lives on December 17. There were a total of 186 people in the hospital at the time, of whom 99 are still undergoing treatment.

As per the Fire Prevention Act, 2006, fire compliance is mandatory. "The ESIC Hospital doesn't even come under the BMC. But MFB firemen were injured while trying to save lives."

"Though the Mumbai fire department checks the system while issuing fire NOCs, the six-month audit by licence agencies is the duty of the respective establishments. We have taken stringent action in the last few months, but we can't check every single residential and commercial building every six months," said additional commissioner IA Kundan.

Another senior BMC official said, "Even if we find loopholes in the fire system, we can't order to shut down institutes like hospitals, as there is a long procedure of notices."

Prakash Devdas, president of the Municipal Fire Brigade Official Association, said the firefighters are good at firefighting. "The Fire Act of 2006 put emphasis on prevention, but our officers don't have proper training in preventive inspection. There is a one-year course for it, conducted by the Maharashtra fire services. We requested the officers, but nothing has happened," Devdas said.

But while the fire related incidents seem to have spiked in recent weeks, a closer analysis of data reveals that over the last six months, the number has remained more or less the same. "There are, on average, about 5,000 incidents every year, meaning about 13 fires per day. It's believed that 80 per cent of the fires break out due to short circuits, and the reason for this could be overloading or shabby wiring. In older structures, electricity networks were installed as per the requirements of the older days, but in the last 15-20 years, the use of electrical appliances have increased. That may often result in overloading," said a senior fire officer.