I occasionally wonder whether we are serious in our efforts about controlling fires that take place. I am also unsure of whether there is enough being done to prevent fires in this society - be they in industrial areas, multi-storeyed buildings that house offices and homes, or in commercial areas, just about anywhere.
I have my doubts about the kind of perception there is in the corridors of decision makers of how grave the fire threat is in view of the inadequate to downright poor maintenance standards they have, in terms of safety measures and safeguards.
I am inclined to agree with this friend of mine who has constant fears about what could happen were there to be a fire breaking out in his home. Electric wiring is often suspect and the material used easily dubious. And the attitude of most people towards safety precautions is one of downright indifference. And given the quality of governance and the skepticism that we have about the response of our emergency services, it is natural that one remember the poetic line which reads as "Khaak Ho Jaengey Hum Tum Ko Khabar Honay Tak." Paraphrased it means that things would be burnt down to ashes by the time people get to know.
Perhaps it is not as bad as this. But these and many other thoughts came to mind last week as yet another major fire broke out in the city, in the Site area, at a large paint manufacturing factory, the Berger Paints Pakistan Limited. This happened on Wednesday, 23rd January 2008, around 2.30 pm and until about midnight the fire fighters battled hard to control the flames and ensure that it does not spread any more than it actually did.
Fortunately there was no loss of life, but initial reports in this daily said on 24th January that seven people were injured in the fire. These were workers reportedly and one assumes that they will be looked after comprehensively, adequately.
One says this because of a sad news report that has appeared in Dawn (29th January 2008) in which said that "after nearly a year of suffering on his hospital bed, fireman Mohammad Yaseen quietly passed away last month at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital." He was 42, and it has been said that his life could have been saved had he been provided better treatment at a private hospital.
It is relevant to mention here that Mohammed Yaseen was injured while fighting a fire that broke out in a warehouse in Site area on 15th January 2007. In this fire several firemen died or got injured. Yaseen had "only a slight spinal injury" and doctors at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital had said that he would fully recover within few months, and be able to resume work. That never happened.
The news report mentioned above gives painful details of nominal or minimal of the facilities, benefits, medical cover, salaries, technical and professional support, etc, that the firemen get in the city.
And it has been stated that "Firemen remain underpaid, and hopelessly unprotected against injury or death, both in terms of health cover and financial and technical support." The details of how much a fireman gets and is denied when faced with emergencies in his professional life is both shocking and disgraceful and the varied shortcomings and shortages of the Fire Department of the City District Government appear to be grave and grim, and makes it easy to imagine the failures that could take place in times of need.
As far as the Berger factory goes, the management has come out with a word of reassurance in which it says that Berger is back with renewed zeal, and that its single shift operation has been converted into a triple shift production. Anyway, I am reminded here of another couplet that may apply to this situation vis-a-vis firemen.
Khud Numaee Tau Naheen Shewa-e-Arbab-e-Wafa
Jin Ko Jalna Ho Woh Gumnaam Sey Jal Jatey Hain"
I don't know why one gets the impression that the number of fires taking place in the city is increasing. Is that a reflection on the safety standards that we have in our lives, and the fire prevention infrastructure that has been developed? As it is, the general atmosphere and mood in the country, is grey and tense, and news of terrorist related activities remind us that all is not well. And news of these sudden fires only accentuate that depressing mood.
I am distracted here by the thought of fires that take place when public transport (even private vehicles?) are set on fire. Look what happened in Karachi on Sunday. In North Nazimabad, near Sakhi Hasan, three passenger coaches were set on fire after a road accident in which a couple sustained injuries.
There were no deaths and a report said that the police were clueless how in such a short span of time, enraged youths of the locality set alight the three vehicles. There is something to worry about road accidents and enraged crowds in society, who always seem to surface easily now.
I would like to mention here that on Sunday two fires also broke out in Karachi, which also were followed closely by TV news channels. There was a fire in the Bilquis Edhi Home in Clifton, and another in an auto workshop, located beneath Taj Complex in Lines Area. One TV news channel initially reported Taj Complex having caught fire - and I almost trembled at that thought, as my imagination ran wild. Sunday's relatively slower pace was being injected with this sort of tension, anxiety.
It is a good sign that the City Nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal on Sunday focused on this subject once again and declared that firefighting equipment would be ensured in all buildings in the city. He has said that the city government has decided to take action against owners of all those buildings, commercial complexes, markets, and factories which do not have firefighting systems or extinguishers within their premises.
The City Nazim has directed the chief controller of buildings to immediately set up a team of senior and competent officers to carry out a survey of buildings in Karachi to determine "whether they have fire fighting systems and fire extinguishers or not".
There is emphasis on the internal firefighting systems in all these buildings, and the KBCA has also been asked to determine the punishment for offenders, and the fine. The standards that are being kept in mind are "international. Good.
Writing on these subjects it is natural to be reminded of some recent fires that have taken place. The head office of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, the Karachi station of the Radio Pakistan, the multi-storeyed shopping plaza on the Clifton main road. And not to mention smaller fires in multi-storeyed buildings. Almighty Allah has been kind and we have been spared in many ways, it seems, with fires like these in our lives. It is time we rose to the occasion as a society - as we urbanise without direction it appears.
I know I have been unmindful and unapologetic about excluding what Mr Doubt has been saying to me all through these days. Here is something that he said about sanity and insanity when he quoted the writer Herman Melville who said that "Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violent tint ends and the orange tint begins? Distinctly we see the difference of the colours, but where exactly does the first one blendingly enter into the other? So with sanity and insanity. Sanity and insanity appear to be so pertinent to our conversations these days.
Comments
Comments are closed.