Hyderabad: Over 12,900 calls to the fire brigade were attended by the fire department in Telangana between March 2013 and December 2014. Households followed by shops and offices reported the maximum number of fire accidents in the state during this period.

Nearly 30 per cent of the fire accidents that occurred in 2013-14 were caused by electrical malfunctioning, according to data from the Telangana State Disaster and Fire Response Department. While accidents due to explosive fireworks recorded a decrease of nearly 50 per cent, fire mishaps from chemical reactions went up by 60 per cent.

“Most of the accidents happen in buildings where existing fire safety systems are turned off or are in disuse,” said the Director General of Fire Services Mr. Rajiv Ratan. However, deliberate turning off of the fire safety measures like the water sprinkler system is an aspect which can’t be monitored by authorities on a daily basis.

Speaking about disaster-preparedness on the department’s part, Mr Ratan said, “The department is always prepared to handle high-probability events despite ours being a job where the response time is totally dependent on traffic conditions. But, in case of the mishaps of which both the probability and the loss in terms of cost is low, it needs to be understood that there is a limitation on how much of cost and manpower can be put in place.”

Despite regular inspections by the department and the mandatory no-objection certificate that has to be obtained from the fire department if one plans to construct a building taller than 15 meters, the number of defaulters is always high. The department has reportedly initiated prosecution against 567 builders or owners, who have failed to provide the required fire safety measures and the cases, are pending in civil courts in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts.

“We have been stressing about fire safety measures, but there is no real consensus on being safe. If a building has all the fire safety recommendations and measures in place, then in case of an accident it can protect itself from any kind of loss and handle the situation on its own before the fire services arrive. The initiative from the citizen’s side is still less,” Mr. Ratan said.

Mr Ratan added that there is reluctance in the managements of high-rise buildings in maintaining fire-fighting measures. One of the reasons for the reluctance was noted to be the money that had to be spent to put preventive fire safety measures in place. Number of lives lost due to fire stood at 263, while 211 people were saved by fire fighters of the department during rescue operations.

1 fire station for 4 lakh people in telangana state:

Over 20 constituencies in Telangana do not have a single fire station, sources in the Telangana State Disaster and Fire Response Department said. One fire station for 50,000 people is the recommended ratio as according to fire safety norms, but Telangana, as of now has one station for nearly 4 lakh people. Only 93 fire stations are located in Telangana, out of which 22 are situated within the GHMC limits. Although, the department sent a proposal recommending setting up of new fire stations after bifurcation, approval from the government is awaited.

“It will be an ideal situation if such a ratio is maintained,” said director-general of fire services Mr Rajiv Ratan, IPS adding that “Recommendations for setting up of 23 new fire stations in Telangana are in pending clearance stage.” Genome Valley, which got its nine-year-old request for a fire station cleared in July last year, it is yet to become a reality. The staff vacancies in the department will reportedly be filled up through the next recruitment notification of the state government.