Indifference to International Firefighters Day

Unlike the other nominated days, the International Firefighters Day (IFFD) which falls on May 4, passed largely unnoticed in Pakistan, as though it had no relevance, whatsoever, for this country.
It will be noted that IFFD is observed to commemorate the profound sense of devotion to duty of the five valiant Australian firemen who laid their lives in an epic fight against exceedingly furious flames in a wildfire in that country.
The day was instituted as a memorable day in response to the proposal righteously emailed out as a mark of citizens' gratitude from across the world on January 4, 1999. Earlier, May 4 was traditionally observed as Firefighters Day in many European countries as it is regarded as the day to pay homage to Saint Florian, patron saint of firefighters.
In so far as the poor observance of the day Pakistan is concerned, the only saving grace was an organised rally taken out by the City Government, led by Deputy Nazim Nasreen Jalil. Needless to point out, Karachi had good reason to participate in the event.
For learning the right lessons from the last year's two infernos at the 15-storey PNSC Building, the City Government has continued to make efforts to put in place all the missing prerequisites of effectively dealing with such catastrophes.
However, elsewhere in the country, not to speak of federal, provincial or local governments, even NGOs that appear to be ever so keen on creating awareness of good things in life seemed to have fought shy of glorifying firefighters or firefighting as an activity worth the while.
The apathy, in this context, can be traced to the poor performance of the firefighting system, including its paraphernalia, which is largely owed to its ramshackle infrastructure, the urge for improving it in accordance with burgeoning growth of cities and towns has remained wanting over long decades. Despite too many and too often ghastly fire tragedies in big and small cities not much appears to have changed yet.
Two ghastly fires in the 15-storey Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) building, last year, rendered several of its floors in a shambles. On both occasions, the widespread damage to the building was vast not so much because of the poor performance of the firefighters as because of the absence of snorkels capable of showering water or foam needed for the height of the building.
For one, snorkels used for extinguishing fire in that kind of towering structure were neither available, nor the ones performance could not be properly used due to inbuilt hindrance in the structure of the building. The same was said of the safety measures, which were either not in place or not properly working.
This is not to say that there was a conceptual vacuum of such measures and equipment. For as it is, there are certain pre-conditions for construction of buildings, with varying differences from place to place, but the prime focus on safety from untoward happenings, including fires, is very much there, on paper at least.
That is why NOCs are required from different organisations for permission to go on with their construction. It is a pity that the previous governments with all its claims of focus on reforms, restructuring and good governance did not deem it worthwhile to safeguard lives and properties from conflagrations of such horrendous nature.