Incidents of fire keep on occurring across Kashmir Valley and lately registered a surge. Unfortunately, several persons were killed, including three members of a family in Uri, while as many others including personnel from the fire and emergency department as well as common people suffered injuries. As per NCRB data for 2019, a staggering 10,915 people died due to accidental fires. 60,507 lives were lost in fire incidents between 2015 and 2018 across India as per the data.
Put another way, on average, 35 people die in a fire every day in India. This was all reported and yet the response has, more often than not, been knee-jerk to every major fire mishap with no long-term vision to prevent their recurrence. Tragically also, properties worth crores of rupees were reduced to ashes. There is a shock and awe when some people lose dwelling and household properties, collected painstakingly for years, to the fire.
Crucially also, the most common reasons for the fire are well-known and causes mostly revolve around human error—accident or negligence including improper use of gas, charcoal, or firewood Bukharies besides short-circuits. More recently, lightning stormed triggered off a massive fire and damaged several shops and other property in Baramulla district.
Invariably though, every instance of fire brings to the fore the problem of adopting an incremental approach to safety. People tend to ignore safety measures and as such fail to incorporate fire safety measures during construction and installing fire extinguishers, at home and offices. Without any doubt, modern technologies as well as preparedness could prove very beneficial. However people give amiss to both.
Unfortunately, the fire hydrants have vanished or are non-functional at most places. Not only this, the road obstructions are such that fire tenders seldom reach the spot on time, causing considerable delays in extinguishing the inferno. The administration needs to put the focus on effective enforcement of the National Building Code and related laws which specify the demarcation of fire zones, restrictions on construction of buildings in each fire zone, classification of buildings based on occupancy, types of building construction according to fire resistance of the structural and non-structural components and other restrictions and requirements necessary to minimize dangers to life from fire, smoke, fumes or panic.
There is need to incorporate safety in all planning, and also provide training to the concerned to eliminate uncertainty and confusion among people on what must be done when disaster actually strikes. Safety training and technological fixes can cut the death toll as well as loss to the properties from fires each year.
