By Vijay Dalwani, Chairman – Pyrosecure
India, with its sheer size and population, rapid urbanization, unplanned infrastructure growth mainly in densely populated areas, has become the “fire accidents” capital of the world. In a city like Mumbai, approx. 30 fire accidents are reported on a daily basis, with 60% of them arising out of electrical short circuits.
Another perspective to have a serious introspection on is that the fire safety infrastructure and personnel in India are not adequate for the size of population and modernization, hence most of the times a small fire hazard results in a major accident, causing loss of life and property.
The current fire protection measures in modern buildings do not account for all contemporary fire hazard issues, which has made fire safety a growing concern.
When a fire accident occurs, it has various implications on people’s lives. The major setback being:
- Loss of Property – Modern homes in cities are quite expensive, coupled with high-cost interiors, white goods and important items, which are always at risk of being burnt down, causing loss of investment and property.
- Loss of Life – More than the loss of investment or money, loss of life or near and dear ones has a lasting impact on people’s lives.
- Legal Complications – As most of the residential infrastructure is not aware of complicated and confusing fire safety rules, does not follow the guidelines due to lack of awareness or seriousness, usually after a fire accident, buildings and homes end up in legal and compliance complications with the authorities.
- Trauma – A scary fire accident leaves a lot of psychological issues and trauma in the minds of affected people, due to the economic and social damage done by the accident.
- Awareness – Most of the times people are of the opinion that the builder or construction company must have adhered to all fire safety norms and it’s not their responsibility to care for their safety. Second thought which is scarier is that people think nothing will happen to them and they cannot be vulnerable to any safety hazards.
The need of the hour is a comprehensive safety approach, encompassing a detailed analysis of the root cause of major fire accidents. As per the statistics, 60% to 65% fire accidents are due to “electrical short circuits” and hence this element should be considered the major factor in our fire safety strategy.
An electrical short circuit happens in a small, compact space inside the electrical plug point or switch board. Usually, the vulnerable points in a home are the switches which are always ON and we use the appliance remote controls to operate them. Points such as the TV, Refrigerator, AC, Geyser and other appliances.
There is a serious need to prioritize this important aspect and cover these vulnerable points to ensure that the fire incident due to a short circuit does not result in a major fire accident as a result of the fire spreading out of the switch board to the entire house.
