KARACHI: The concerned members of civil society have demanded that the government should conduct proper safety audits of all official, commercial, and industrial buildings on an immediate basis to prevent recurring deadly fire incidents in Karachi.

They made this demand while speaking at a press conference on Who should be blamed for frequent fire incidents.

Those who spoke on the occasion said the citys administration, relevant civic agencies, public, traders bodies, and chamber of commerce, had to work collectively for the long-pending implementation of the fire safety rules.

President of the Fire Protection Industry of Pakistan, Dr Imran Taj said that spreading mass awareness about the issue of fire safety was as important as the timely dispatch of the fire brigade for dealing with any fire emergency.

He said the fire safety equipment should be available in working condition at the commercial and high-rise buildings whose occupants should know how to handle the fire fighting equipment.

He said the commercial organisations should conduct training sessions and drills to keep their employees abreast of the latest fire safety protocols.

Dr Taj lamented that implementation of the Fire Safety Provisions of the Building Code of Pakistan had been pending since 2016.

Nadeem Sheikh of the Justice Helpline said that there was no practical implementation of the fire safety rules as they existed only on paper.

He said thet had moved the high court on the recent fire tragedies at the RJ Mall and Arshi Centre in the megacity as he hoped that the judiciary would play its role in providing justice to the victims.

National Forum for Environment and Health President Naeem Qureshi said that almost 15,000 people had lost their lives due to around 900 fire incidents in the country in a year. Qureshi told media persons that around 1,50,000 people sustained injuries due to the frequent fire incidents.

Zulfiqar Shah of the Sajjan Union of the KMC Workers said that the citys fire brigade utterly lacked the latest equipment and gadgets required for dealing with frequent fire emergencies. He said that only 40 out of 100 vehicles available with the citys fire brigade were functional.

Also speaking on the occasion, representatives of different concerned NGOs said that a mass awareness campaign on fire safety rules should be conducted through conventional mass and social media.

They said the shopping malls and high-rise buildings should build fire and emergency exists and make them fully serviceable. They demanded that the high-rise buildings and shopping plazas should voluntarily review their fire safety preparations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023