Indian Express 05.05.2010
Civic body to inspect fire safety measures at malls
Express News Service Tags : malls Posted: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 at 0416 hrs
Pune: The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has asked hospitals, multiplexes and malls to take adequate fire safety measures to avoid any untoward incident.In a letter to 15 commercial establishments, the fire department has called for a review of fire safety measures at these places.
Chief fire officer Kiran Gawade said, “We have asked the commercial establishments to ensure that they have all the safety equipment required to protect their respective establishments. In case they don’t have the necessary equipment, they should ensure that they put them in place.”
Gawde said the PCMC will inspect commercial establishments for loopholes in the fire safety system. “We will ask them to meet the fire safety norms. If they don’t we will be forced to act against them,” he said.
He said installing fire safety equipment is not enough. “There should be trained manpower to handle the equipment,” he said.
Most fire accidents can be avoided if proper safety equipment and trained manpower is in place. “People in the establishments should not panic if there is a little spark. They should immediately douse the fire. Once a blaze grows it becomes difficult to control it even if you have trained manpower,” officials said.
