There are 60 fire extinguishers kept in different places at Anna Maaligai, the Madurai Corporation office in Tallakulam. But has the establishment taken adequate steps to deal with a real fire disaster situation?
It was found on Sunday that 14 extinguishers have passed the expiry date almost a year back. These have been installed near Commissioner’s office, Engineering and Town Planning section, Health section and Archives and Historical Research Department on the first and second floors. They are of ‘Water Co2’ type and their labels state that their expiry date is November 29, 2016.
A fire safety equipment firm owner, S. Lingabalan, said there are several different types of fire extinguishers such as ABC extinguisher filled with mono-ammonium phosphate, a yellow powder used to douse fire; water and carbon dioxide; dry chemical powder (DCP) and foam, which includes nitrogen and foam, and Co2.
The life of ‘water and Co2’ type extinguisher is one year. When contacted, an official at the electrical section of the Corporation, said the handyman who affixed the label on the extinguisher got the dates wrong and that there are still 10 months left to go for replacement. He quickly added that the replacement would be done on Monday itself in order to be on the safer side.
Corporation Commissioner S. Aneesh Sekhar said he had noticed the expired extinguishers and asked his men to check them.
“Only a few of them are of the ‘Water Co2’ type. I had asked my men to replace them a few days ago,” he said. Dr. Sekhar said the replacement would be completed by Monday.
The Corporation office also has kept ready buckets of sand as an immediate measure. But training to use them are never conducted, say the staff.