Fire preparedness in urban India not up to standards: Expert

PANAJI - Fire safety measures in urban India are only one-sixth of the required standards while in rural India they are virtually nil, a top fire safety expert said Friday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a fire safety seminar here, G.B. Menon, founder president of the National Association of Fire Officers (NAFO) and a former fire adviser in the home ministry, also said that setting up of a National Fire Service Commission was imperative.

“Fire safety norms throughout a rapidly urbanising India are inadequate, according to a survey carried out in 1997,” Menon said.

“Urban India has only 1/6th of the fire safety measures in place, whereas in rural India it is virtually nil,” Menon said.

Menon, who has also served as a chief fire officer in Zambia on deputation, said the non-transparent attitude of fire departments when it comes to revealing causes of major fire hazards was also a deterrent in preparing for fire-related emergencies in the future.

“The practice in most departments is unfortunate. They are not very forthcoming and do not come out with deficiencies and inadequacies which caused major fires,” Menon said, adding that poor implementation of fire safety rules and norms were the causes for most fire hazards.

Menon also rued the fact that in most states, fire and emergency service departments were headed by non-professionals, especially policemen who are not adept at handling fire-related emergencies.

“Except for states like Goa and Jammu and Kashmir, most fire departments have no professional leadership and police officers take charge in most states. These temporary arrangements are not in the interest of the people,” he said.

“Whatever developments we are seeing in the fire safety sphere are sporadic. Only some educated officers in some departments are responsible for the positive changes, but there is no uniform progress,” he added.