High-rise and shine, but how safe?

Bangalore is getting a Manhattan makeover. The City’s skyscape is upwardly mobile; slowly and surely, the high-rises are growing taller. But the nagging doubt on their safety is becoming a serious concern.

The mid-summer nightmare could be a fire just round the bend, and it could simply break out on one of those floors up there. Are the buildings prepared to avert one, and are our firemen prepared to cope with another inferno like the one at Carlton Tower  are the questions that loom large as the heat in the City gets fiercer by the day.

Residents in those skyward mansions are not so sure. Fire safety measures adopted at these eminently inflammable structures are just not what they ought to be. A close look at the safety steps at both the residential and commercial high-rises leaves you aghast. Life in high places needn’t be so risky at all.

A callous disregard for fire safety norms, an unholy nexus between builders and licensing agencies, modifications of approved building plans with a profit-motive... The factors that fuel the next big fire aren’t hard to list.

So what if nine lives were lost in the Carlton Towers tragedy. So what if easily avoidable fires claim precious lives... Lessons aren’t going to be learnt. At least, that’s what has been the story so far. For the record, it is claimed that Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services (KFES) Department is the most well-equipped in the country, possessing an array of equipment that meet international standards. “Manpower and machines are not at all a problem for us. But we are unable to use them to the fullest extent due to erratic structures,” says a senior officer of KFES.

So where are the problems in the structures?

Ideally, one-third of the total floor space of the building in the ground floor should be earmarked for free movement of fire tenders. One rule says that the layer of the ground should be hard enough to sustain the weight of a 40-tonne vehicle. Yet, Bangalore has thousands of buildings that have violated even this basic requirement. “We find it difficult to operate fire tenders in such congested areas,” notes the fire official.

You don’t need to go too far to check on fire-unsafe high-rises. Despite the late improvements in its fire safety preparedness, the towering Public Utility Building (PUB) stands as a telling example of how not to build a fire-proof structure. Here’s why, as the fire official explains: “Imagine there is a major fire on the 15th floor of PUB, one of the tallest structures in the City at present. We have got a special fire tender, which can fight and control the fire even at that height. But we can’t operate that fire tender as walls and roofs of another structure prevents the ladder from going up at the second floor PUB itself.”

This, then, is a classic illustration of how helpless the KFES is in matters of many high-rises in the City. “You can only blame the builders for violating norms and authorities for having turned a blind eye to the violations.”

Negligence has been proved time and again as one obvious, screaming reason for the fire mishaps. Lack of maintenance of the fire-fighting equipment, trained personnel to operate them, and an absence of adequate checks to avoid electric short circuits due to power overload, have all been contributing factors.

Lack of coordination

Proper coordination between the KFES and other key agencies such as the police, the BBMP, BDA, KSIDC, BMRDA and other bodies is extremely crucial in ensuring safety from fire mishaps. The BBMP, BDA, KSIDC and BMRDA are required to regularly inspect buildings to check fire safety violations. Beyond issuing no-objection certificates and clearance certificates, the KFES has no power to bring the violators to book.

Bangalore has hundreds of high-rise structures with hardly any space for fire tenders to move in. It’s tough even for a big four-wheeler to access these buildings. Since many of these are built on encroachments, the tendency is to capitalise on every inch of space.
On its part, the Fire Department says it has appropriate coordination mechanism with  police. The department has placed a wireless set in the police control room to ensure quick exchange of information. The traffic police do their bit by clearing roads immediately to ensure quick movement of the fire tenders to an accident spot , says B K Hamppagol, Deputy Director (Technical) KFES.

Insufficient fire stations

The Standing Fire Advisory Committee (SFAC) of the Government of India mandates that there should be a fire station for every 50,000 population. Going by the norm, Bangalore should have at least 50 fire stations. But the City has only 13 fire stations and six more are to come up in a phased manner. Each station covers a radius of nearly 10 km.

“The challenge for the KFES is getting land at different locations. Government bodies such as the BDA, BBMP and Bangalore University have enough land with them, but are not willing to donate even half an acre to build a fire station. What will Bangalore University lose if half an acre is given at the Jnanabharathi campus where minor fire mishaps are reported frequently? They want our services whenever a tragedy strikes, but don’t want to donate land,” laments Hamppagol.

If a major fire breaks out in Rajarajeshwarinagar, a vehicle has to be dispatched from the Mysore Road station. Considering the huge vehicular traffic on this stretch, the fire tender takes much time to reach the spot. By the time the vehicle arrives at the spot, the blaze would have gone out of control. Hamppagol feels the agencies concerned should donate land to build more stations close by.

Pathetic response for mock drills

Over 35 per cent of the high-rise residential structures in the City have 10 or more floors. Although many of these claim they are equipped with fire-fighting equipment, most residents there don't know how to operate them. The Fire Department conducts nearly 200 mock drills at all high-rise structures without considering whether they are owned by private firms or a government body. But the response of the public has been poor, especially at residential structures.

Fire force officials complain that even the so-called educated prevent their efforts. “They think that an exercise like a mock fire drill is futile,” says Hamppagol.

Modernisation

There is some progress in modernising the fire force to meet the challenges posed by a vertically growing Bangalore. For instance, the process of distributing protective clothes to firemen is on. Recently, the Department inducted two rescue vehicles, each costing about Rs one crore.

Incidentally, Karnataka is the first State in the country to buy a two-wheeler equipped with a machine that can convert water into mist to put out fire. The vehicle, dubbed the “mist technology motorcycle”, has been acquired from Germany at a cost of about Rs 14 lakh. The bike could prove crucial in accessing places where no fire tender or a four-wheeler can reach.

Besides, the department has added four Area Ladder Platform Vehicles, three of them for Bangalore. These vehicles, purchased at a cost of Rs four crore from Finland, can fight fire in a 52-metre-tall building. Three more such vehicles will be procured soon — two will be stationed in Bangalore and one in Mangalore.

But without adequate staff, procurement of even the latest equipment could prove unproductive. There are several vacancies in the Fire Department that need to be filled fast. Of the 156 posts in Bangalore East, 73 are vacant; of the 151 in Bangalore South, 73 are unfilled; of the 180 in Bangalore West, 82 are still lying unrecruited. Of the 122 posts in Bangalore North, there are no men in 51 positions.