LAHORE: Sheikhupura Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Adil Mehmood called for a rapid fire fighting department to stop small fires before they balloon out of control what happened in recent Hafeez Centre fire.

In a press statement here on Thursday, Adil Mehmood said the shopkeepers held the delayed response of the Fire Brigade department responsible for the tragedy as fire engines were late to arrive at the scene and fire fighters were unable to control the fire effectively.

Welcoming the Rs 5 billion relief package for the fire affectees, he said if government had revamped the fire fighting department on modern lines by providing sufficient funds this huge amount (Rs 5 billion) could be used for growth of the businesses.

He lamented that our fire fighting department has capacity to control municipal fire and lacked skills to extinguish industrial fire specially which broke out in godowns. "We have experienced many incidents in which fire stated in a godown and quickly escalated into a smoke-filled inferno," he said.

Adil Mehmood offered help and coordination from the traders and industrialists to avoid such tragedies in future to ensuring safety of lives and assets. He said that well trained fire fighters, modern technology and factories equipped with fire fighting gadgets would go a long way to ensure safety of all stakeholders.

Adil Mehmood appreciated the efforts of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar in the wake of recent fire at Hafeez Centre and said such efforts and financial packages would lessen the grief of the affectees and such big package was not announced in the past.-PR

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020