The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Fire accident calls for adherence to safety norms Law & order

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 18, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Fire accident calls for adherence to safety norms Law & order

The incident looks like a wake up call for hoteliers to buckle up, writes
L. Srikrishna

A fire which broke out in a city hotel’s basement area on Thursday night caused panic among the guests and visitors on the busy West Veli Street and West Perumal Maistry Street. After the fire call was received at around 8 p.m., fire fighters rushed to the spot. As the basement of the hotel was filled with smoke, fighters found it difficult to step into the area.

With the beginning of summer season, combustible materials dumped in the basement for a long period appeared to have caused the fire. “Good house keeping is essential, be it a private residence or a commercial building like hotel and shopping mall,” said District Fire Officer C. Thooyamani and appealed to the managers/owners of high rise buildings to follow the National Building Code.

Apart from this, he said that staff members should be deputed to regularly check the water stored for such emergencies in tanks and containers. Wastes dumped should be removed periodically and the plan of each floor with emergency entry/exit should be displayed prominently.

It is more important to have trained staff in their own premises so that it would be easier to handle the situation swiftly until the arrival of the fire fighters, he opined.

According to the fire and rescue service personnel, it took over two hours for them to put out the fire. Though there was no cause for a panic, the moment the news spread, about 150 persons inside the hotel came out to safety, they said.

Deputy Director (Fire Services) Shahul Hameed visited the spot and supervised the rescue operations.

Fire officials said that high rise buildings should accord top priority to fire safety. Regular drill for the in-house staff about the dos and don’ts in case of emergencies would ensure lesser panic level.

An officer said that not all the multi-storeyed buildings in the city adhered to fire safety norms. The Thursday night fire in a business class hotel looks like a wake up call for the hoteliers to buckle up.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu