Shops at the busy Broadway and the nearby Ernakulam market continue to remain vulnerable to fire hazards as the Department of Fire and Rescue Services remains clueless on how to overcome possible hurdles in case of accidents.
Saturday’s fire at a shop in Broadway once again exposed the serious lapses in adherence to fire safety norms in the region. The Hindu had earlier filed a series of reports pointing out that fire safety norms have been thrown to the wind at Broad and the Ernakulam market.
A senior official of the Department of Fire and Rescue Services in Ernakulam accused traders at Broadway and the local bodies, including the Kochi Corporation, of being negligent in setting up fire safety measures in the area. The authorities had reminded the traders two months ago to initiate urgent steps to install fire fighting mechanism based on our assessment that the region lacked even basic infrastructure to tackle fire emergency. But nothing had happened, leaving the officials with no other option but to alert the government, he said.
The Fire and Rescue Services Department had also urged the Kerala Water Authority to install water hydrants that are supposed to be located in several strategic areas along the street to aid quick response of the fire brigade to control fire outbreak.
The Fire and Rescue Services Department had also informed the Kochi Corporation authorities on several occasions that the buildings in the busy shopping area failed to adhere to the fire safety norms. Lack of adequate fire extinguishers, sprinklers and fire exits were the major deficiencies found in the area. The assessment by the Fire Department pointed out that the narrow and congested roads prevented the entry of more than one fire engine in an emergency.
