Fire safety measures in high rise buildings

Authored by Pritam Chivukula, Co-Founder & Director, Tridhaatu Realty & Infra Pvt. Ltd. Incidents of fire mishaps in buildings taking valuable and innocent lives have made it to the headlines in our country. The recent incident at Surat is a case in point, where the nation watched in horror seeing young students jump off the top floor of a commercial building, to save themselves from the blazing flames that engulfed the building. Fire mishaps in both commercial and residential buildings are something that can happen anytime but steps are needed to reduce and eliminate such incidents. The biggest culprit is violation of fire safety norms commonly found in both commercial and residential buildings. But the biggest challenge that we are faced with is fighting a blazing fire in a high rise building. Today in India, most metro cities are growing vertical due to rising urbanization and growing demand for housing. It is said that Vertical development is the need of the hour and the only way forward especially in metro cities such as Mumbai, Delhi etc.  With increased pressure on the available land, it has become imperative to grow vertical for better optimisation of scarce land resources. In fact going vertical helps create more open and green spaces around us and yet provide more housing stock. Therefore, there is no alternative but to go vertical. In such a scenario the question arises that of safety in case of a fire. Are our multi storied high-rise buildings fire compliant and do they adhere to the norms set by the concerned fire authorities? In the event of a fire, the most challenging task for the fire department is extinguishing the fire and full-scale evacuation as it requires proper planning and complete cooperation from all the units. Today, most developers consider fire safety to be a crucial part and are strictly following the norms laid down. Most high rise structures should install Fire resistant wires (FRLS - fire resistant low smoke) and Fire resistant doors (as directed by CFO). This helps in limiting the damage caused during a fire and saves precious lives. Inhaling of smoke during a fire is one of the main causes of death. The National Association of Fire Officers (NAFO) has made it mandatory to install these systems in high-rise buildings to make them fire safe. Continuous fire safety auditing is also important to check the readiness of the premise as well as residents in case of a fire. In order to minimize loss of life and property due to fire, every high rise should have mandatory safety guidelines in place. Fire detection system: Fire detectors should be placed on each floor and two-way communication should be established between the ground floor and other floors. Public Address system (PAS)should be installed on every floor and regular instructions should be given according to the situation. Fire alarm system: There are two kinds of fire alarm system, manual and automatic. Every building higher than 15 metre should have both of these. Sprinkler system: In the basement, parking and other areas where highly combustible things are stored, sprinklers must be provided. The sprinklers should be connected to the main water tank so that there is an ample amount of water to control the fire. Fire extinguishers: Portable fire extinguishers should be installed in each corridor as well as a First Aid box. Signage Escape route map: Maps clearly showing the route to escape should be provided in each corridor. This should be in luminous paint so that it is useful even if there is a power failure. Fire drills: Drills are the only means that can be used to check how efficient your emergency response plan is. The residents should know where the emergency equipment is and know the way to reach there. Also, they should know how to evacuate the building in the least possible time. Surprise drills are used to assess the preparedness of the residents as well as the fire equipment installed. In addition, there should be a built-in firefighting system that includes wet riser, dry riser and hydrant. Every high-rise should have a minimum of two entrances and staircases, each, both far from each other. There should be an alternate source of power supply and a CD Gen set should be maintained and kept operational at all times. In conclusion, fire related accidents are beyond our control but we can at least be prepared to tackle the situation in a well-planned manner so that there is minimum loss to life and property. Prospective home buyers looking at buying an apartment in a high rise should do a thorough check on all the fire-safety measures incorporated by the developer before buying an apartment in that project.