In recent times fire mishaps have taken place in Surat, Delhi and various other cities in the country, pointing fingers on disaster mitigation measures of the city authorities. Especially, the Surat incident which saw more than 20 students’ death due to lack of appropriate mitigation measures. To improve the situation for future, AIILSG along with CEDM and NFA organized a seminar on Fire Prevention & Life Safety Measures
All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) in collaboration with the Centre for Environment and Disaster Management (CEDM) and National Fire Academy (NFA) organised a state-level seminar on Fire Prevention & Life Safety Measures – Perspectives and its Importance to Fire & Safety Management on June 7, 2019, at Vadodara.
The purpose of the seminar was to create awareness amongst the fire fraternity regarding large scale fire incidents and related disasters occurring in various parts of the State. The emphasis was regarding the need of adhering to the fire safety regulations enacted by the Government of Gujarat in 2013 and the proposals emerging out of discussions and deliberations for additional measures to strengthen the Act by providing sufficient reasons and arriving at logical conclusions.
After the Surat fire incident, new fire stations are on cards, around 500 volunteers to be hired & trained under AIILSG. The fire training program will be undertaken for the Fire Marshals of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) by CEDM. Hansa Patel, Executive Advisor, AIILSG, felt it timely to organise the seminar for creating awareness on various facets of fire and safety management amongst all concerned. She requested the experts to share their knowledge with the participants and answer their queries and clarify their doubts so that it would benefit them to carry out the jobs satisfactorily in their respective organisations.
In his inaugural speech, Prof Parimal Vyas, vice chancellor of M S University of Baroda, said that disaster management and fire safety must be included in the curriculum of schools and colleges. He further exhorted the need of maintaining a balanced fabric of safe environment with a view to safeguard the present worsening environment scenario and also for creating a sustainable environment for the future generation.
He emphasised the need for adequate fire safety equipments and training to be imparted to the staff and occupants of educational institutions, high rise buildings, shopping malls, cinema halls and other places where public gather in large numbers for social, festival or political meetings. He further said that the periodical fire/safety audit by professionals are required to understand the factual position of fire equipments and its periodical maintenance and working conditions, including the wear and tear of electrical wiring and loading capacity etc.
As regards the civic concern regarding the widespread use of plastic materials in the construction, S K Patel, Deputy Municipal Commissioner of Vadodara, was of the view that such a hazardous situation would go beyond the control of civic authorities if stringent actions are not taken at the grassroots level. He further added that only installing fire/safety equipment in public places is not enough to curtail fire incidents, but round the clock vigilance and trained manpower and managing it with effective firefighting and fire control mechanisms is the supplementary solution to prevent such incidents.
The purpose of the seminar was to create awareness amongst the fire fraternity regarding large scale fire incidents and related disasters occurring in various parts of the State. The emphasis was regarding the need of adhering TO the fire safety regulations enacted by the Government of Gujarat in 2013 and the proposals emerging out of discussions and deliberations for additional measures to strengthen the Act by providing sufficient reasons and arriving at logical conclusions
Dr Jatin V Modi, President Emeritus, AIILSG welcomed all the distinguished dignitaries present in the seminar. He talked about the efforts and hard work undertaken by the institute in establishing National Fire Academy to cater the demand of trained personnel in various industries, service sector, civic and semi-government organisations. In the training workshop there were a few other important aspects taken up regarding timely fire safety audits by professionals in all the above establishments to understand the need of wear and tear of electrical equipment and infrastructure needed for the safety of the building and safe passage as and when an emergency occurs unexpectedly. Strict adherence of the fire and safety report prepared by the auditors and implementation of the same by occupants/institutions without fail has to be monitored by the Fire & Emergency Services.
The recent tragic fire incident in Surat wherein many aspiring young students lost their lives and many were injured due to non-adherence of fire safety norms and lack of supervision on the part of concerned civic officials were also discussed in the seminar and the speakers emphasied for new measures to be added to the existing Act for making stringent provisions so that in future such incidents would not take place in the expanding cities of the State. At present, Surat fire department has 17 fire stations across the city, which has a population of around 60 lakh. There are 962 fire officials against an approved strength of 1056.To increase the strength, the SMC fire department will hire 500 volunteers on the lines of friends of police, Surat, and give them free training in rescue operations.
The training will be given by CEDM under AIILSG. The special fire & safety committee formed include Om Prakash Bhagat, former fire advisor, Govt of India, Narendra Pal, ex-assistant vice president of fire services, Reliance Industries Ltd., Akhilesh Sadhankar, deputy director, National Fire Service College, Nagpur, B K Pareek, additional chief fire officer, SMC Surat Fire & Emergency Services, Hansa Patel, Executive Advisor, AIILSG.
It was felt by the participants and expert speakers that more such seminars/workshops are required to gauge the improvements as well as the number of fire incidents including disasters reported from various parts of the state. More analytical studies and upgradation of the existing technology and training of the concerned officials are essential. Inclusion of the community is also to be pondered over to create awareness and taking up the issues with all seriousness and bringing the lacunae to the notice of concerned officials as their duties were also discussed at the last phase of
the seminar.