Fire incidents highlighted after Kamala Mills tragedy; numbers have fallen in three years

Mumbai Chief Fire Officer Prabhat Rahangdale.

For a city characterized by narrow lanes, highrises and densely populated neighborhoods, a state-of-the-art firefighting apparatus/equipment is a must. Any firefighting agency needs to improve its response time, said Mumbai Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Prabhat Rahangdale. However, Rahangdale points out that majority of establishments (residential and commercial) today are found to have dysfunctional firefighting equipment on the premises, which turns out to be fatal for residents and tough for firefighters.

What preventive measures has the Mumbai Fire Brigade taken after the recent spate of fires that claimed several lives?
Around two to three years back, we received over 16,000-17,000 calls of fire, and house or building collapse in a year. Over 40 per cent of these were to report fires. It is not that those fire incidents were any less fatal and now they are more dangerous. The number of incidents reduced by at least 2000-2500 in the last three years and the scenario has changed now. With more public awareness, social media, news channels etc., fire incidents are being highlighted more, especially after the Kamala Mills compound tragedy.
About preventive measures, we have formed a team of 34 officers comprising one from each fire station to ensure compliance with fire safety norms by commercial as well as residential units/establishments. The effort is to ensure that every single hotel or building is fire compliant. The step was taken in December last year after the Sakinaka farsan shop tragedy (12 died in a fire on December 18, 2017). They operate in teams with BMC shops and establishments and license department officials and the team is called the fire safety compliance cell.

How do these fire safety compliance cells operate?
The SOPs have been framed for these cells, and these will also be notified on the BMC website under ease of doing business soon. The modus operandi will be to first take information from the local BMC ward offices, inspect the premises and then intimate the ward offices in writing to take stern action against violators.

With rapid development, how are you preparing firefighters to combat fires in places that are hard to access?
The firefighting system is an integral part of city management and needs to be modernized and strengthened. As a city develops… it must modernize its firefighting system. We are procuring the latest equipment including robots to douse fires without any harm to firemen. We are also planning to use drones.

Following recent fire incidents in highrises, especially the June 13 fire at Beaumonde Towers in Prabhadevi, questions have been raised about the MFB’s inability to reach higher floors for firefighting. Is the MFB ill-equipped for the task?
There is no connection between what kind of ladder or firefighting equipment we have and the height of the building. Firefighting majorly depends on internal firefighting system present in the highrise structure. Firefighting on vertical heights has always been challenging and it is effective if fought from within the building. It was a massive fire and on vertical height. However, fully operational internal firefighting system at Beaumonde helped tremendously to contain the spread of the fire to other floors. Hence all highrise buildings should not just install firefighting equipment, but also maintain them.

While BMC had a massive crackdown on commercial establishments, has there been a check on fire safety compliance of housing societies?
According to the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2009, owners/occupants of a building (commercial/ residential) are supposed to conduct a fire audit twice a year in January and July (every six months) and submit fitness certificates to the local fire station under section 3 of the Act. It is the responsibility of the owners and occupants to maintain fire safety and firefighting equipment. However, this hardly happens. Our officers are supposed to inspect these premises for non-compliance. However, it is difficult to manually inspect each and every premises every year. Hence our officers check these buildings randomly and intimate local BMC ward offices. Further, we have given a maximum time of 120 days to the owners/ occupants to comply, following which we prosecute them. Commercial premises are checked more often; however, we are not going easy on housing societies.
In the last two years, we have issued notices to nearly 4,700 housing societies and 3,000 commercial establishments over non-compliance of fire safety norms. Except for 35 societies and commercial establishments, most have complied with the norms. We moved court against these 35 establishments (10 of these are housing societies).

What are the steps being taken to strengthen the Mumbai Fire Brigade?
In the last three years, we focused more on increasing manpower and recruited over 789 firemen. Apart from that, we are emphasizing on capacity building. For that, we have chalked out a ten-year plan for improving infrastructure. Under this plan, we will set up 56 new fire stations apart from the 34 existing ones. We are also planning to set up mini fire stations in areas where response time to reach the spot is more leading to delay in firefighting operations. We are working on improving our communication system, adopting more digital means. We have introduced a few ultra-modern vehicles and equipment, mini fire engines, and 90 meter ladder.
We do a lot apart from extinguishing fires. We work during floods, respond if a tree falls or a building collapses. We are also inducting mini fire engines, which require less water.

You currently hold the post of Chief of Mumbai Fire Brigade as well as director of state fire services. Your ability to do justice to both the important roles has been questioned. Your comments?
Whatever responsibility was given to me as Chief Fire Officer of MFB and additional charge of director, directorate of Maharashtra Fire Services, I have fulfilled those responsibilities with utmost honesty and sincerity. I am at all major tragedy spots, never shirked my responsibilities as a CFO of MFB. Never was this question raised before Kamala Mills compound fire. This is the handiwork of those who have no other issues to raise.