Fire stations in the district are busy incorporating into their fire-fighting and rescue services a routine system of inspection to ensure that fire safety rules are fully complied with.
The move is part of a Statewide fire safety drive that seeks to give priority to prevention of fire.
Officers in the 10 Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) stations in the district are on their toes as they conduct daily inspection of buildings ranging from residential to commercial ones to enforce compliance with the fire safety rules.
This was in the wake of the finding that Kannur, along with Kollam, topped the list in terms of the number of buildings found to have violated various provisions of the National Building Code and fire safety norms.
It has been a hectic mission for the FRS personnel here since the February 19 meeting of Regional Fire Officers and District Fire Officers and other senior officers convened by Fire and Rescue Service Director General A. Hemachandran in the wake of recent fire outbreaks in New Delhi and in different parts of the State.
“The standing order issued by the Director General on February 25 is a game changer for us, as it marks a shift from fire protection to fire prevention,” said an officer at the fire station in the district headquarters here. Inspection of buildings had become routine now, as squads of personnel were being daily assigned the inspection task, he said.
Since the launch of the Statewide fire safety drive last month, 71 buildings under the Kannur fire station limits have been inspected till date and 53 of them are found to have not complied with the fire safety rules.
The buildings included categories such as residential, institutional, assembly (auditoriums), business and mercantile. The officers said the fire safety systems in most of the business, assembly and mercantile buildings were found to be defective. Many of them had fire safety systems that were not maintained and renewed, they said.
“We are giving 15 days for buildings owners to comply with the rules,” the officer said. Depending upon the category of buildings, the minimum requirement for fire-fighting installation in small buildings included hose reel hose, fire extinguisher, and branch pipe in each floor and a terrace tanker and hydrant, he said.
Major buildings should have wet riser, a fire-fighting supply system intended to distribute water to multiple levels or compartments of a building, he said.
The fire personnel are also conducting training classes to residents’ associations, colleges and other organisations. They are also giving training to people to help them form community rescue volunteer groups that could serve as first respondents if incidents occur in their localities.
