Violation of building codes, no safety kits: Over 12,000-15,000 die in fire incidents annually: experts

KARACHI: Around 12,000 to 15,000 people die in fire incidents in the country every year. Losses of hundreds of billions are also incurred due to violation of building codes, unavailability of fire safety arrangements, lack of training and awareness among people, fire safety experts said on Wednesday.

They was revealed by during an annual symposium of Fire Protection Association of Pakistan (FPAP) at a local hotel, which was addressed by caretaker provincial ministers including Younus Dagha, Dr. Junaid Ali Shah, FPAP President Kanwar Waseem as well as officials from Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Rescue 1122 and representatives of the corporate sector.

Dominic Ellis, Deputy Commissioner and Operational Director for Prevention, Protection and Operational Policy of London and Rob Llewn of Confederation of Fire Protection Associations - Asia (CFPA-A) also addressed the symposium through video link.

Addressing the inaugural session, Dr Junaid Ali Shah said even the majority of hospitals and educational institutions which are seen as places housing the most vulnerable segments of the society don’t have a firefighting system nor do they offer any space for the fire exit.

“Due to such negligence we see how these fire incidents cause us heavy damages. These fire incidents can be prevented and handled very well if the system remains in place. The priorities set goals and unfortunately we haven’t seen prevention from fire incidents and firefighting as priority,” said Dr. Shah.

FAPF President Kunwar Wasim in his address mentioned the possible reasons behind growing fire incidents mainly in Karachi and regretted that an even higher number of tragedies has failed to serve as a wakeup call for the regulatory bodies and implementation authorities.

“The Building Code Fire Safety Prevention which was prepared by the Pakistan Engineering Council in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority was passed in 2016 but even after seven years, we haven’t moved an inch,” he said.

Tariq Moen, director training and projects of FPAP said even the fire protection equipment installed at different buildings are ineffective and only were put in place to meet the “legal formalities.”

He informed that apart from an estimated 15,000 deaths and over a trillion rupees financial losses across Pakistan, some 150,000 suffer burn wounds due to these fire incidents as the builders of both commercial and residential structures never take the fire safety in their plans seriously.

Taking prompt notice of the suggestions, Sindh caretaker for industries, commerce and revenue Younus Dagha announced to launch survey of the industrial structures across the province to check the status of their fire protection system and also vowed to make implementation of fire protection system essential requirement through Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) for all factories.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023