Twin-cities sitting on fire bomb

Twin-cities sitting on fire bomb
MANU AIYAPPA - TIMES NEWS NETWORK

29 Dec, 2006 0118hrs IST

HUBLI: Around 15 fire accidents have been reported in the twin-cities in the last fortnight, leading to minor casualties and heavy loss of property.

On Thursday, office records and furniture worth Rs 25,000 were gutted in a fire that broke out in the LIC office on Lamington road.

Officials blamed it on a short-circuit. The fire was controlled in under 20 minutes, thanks to the fire-safety system installed in the building. This should be an eye-opener to several congested and high-rise buildings in Hubli-Dharwad.

Old Hubli area,which has congested streets and no fire hydrants, is most prone to fire accidents. Fire engines can barely reach accident spots and water pipes cannot be reached till areas affected.

"Everyone blames our department when there is a fire. But no one spends money on fire safety,"lamented chief fire officer Basavaraj Hampagol. Many factories in congested residential areas are also time-bombs waiting to go off.

In spite of strict orders, gas agency godowns are still situated in densely populated areas. As per the department's safety norms, there should be sand, water and carbon dioxide extinguishers in commercial buildings, depending on the space and number of workers.

They should have two or more exits, to help evacuation in case of fires.Workers in factories, marriage halls, hotels, restaurants and government offices should be trained in using firefighting equipment.

But all these safety norms have remained only on paper. No doubt city fire services have improved with the establishment of a new fire station at Old Hubli, but there is always a constraint of hydrants,water and staff.

Officials say things could have been much better with some additional funding, man and machine to meet the new requirements of the city.

While admitting these drawbacks, Hamgol said: "About 50 per cent of damage can be reduced if the buildings have proper fire-fighting system and also some common sense among public to make way for fire engines when they are attending to emergency calls."