Now, an App to lodge plaints about lack of fire safety

In an effort to make the City free from fire accidents, a mobile app — Fire Champ has been laun­ched by Beyond Carlton, in association with IChangeMyCity.com and Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services Department.

The App will help public lodge complaints about lack of fire safety measures in any public places, apartment complexes and business establishments. The complaints are forwarded to Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services Department by Beyond Carlton to enable them to conduct an inspection on the building about which complaint has been received.

The App is available free of cost and can be downloaded from Google Play for Android phone and from Apple store for i-phones. The App opens to a camera, where a person can click the picture, mention the name of the area/location. The App is also GPS enabled where the location can be chosen from the options.   The complaints drop down appears as – fire exit blocked, sprinkles or smoke alarms blocked, combustible material in electrical room, fire extinguishers expired or blocked, fire pump in off mode or combustible garbage stacked up in electric shaft. 

The complainant can chose the option and register a complaint about lack of fire safety in the building.  The complaint then gets forwarded to Fire Department to conduct an inspection of the building to ensure that the building is equipped with fire safety. The App also has the option to check the status of the complaint.

Highlighting the need to have such measures, Beyond Carlton Managing Trustee and President Uday Vijayan said this was the first time in the world where an App is available to lodge complaint about lack of fire safety.

  “There is always an alternative help in case of other emergencies, but not in case of any fire accidents. It is only fire department which comes to the rescue of those caught in such situations.  So we wanted to strengthen the services of the fire department by engaging the public to lodge complaints,” he added.

The App was launched 20 days ago and already has 10 complaints registered in the App.  Beyond Carlton was formed by the family and friends of those who lost their loved ones in the Carlton Towers fire tragedy in the City in February 2010.