50% fire accidents ravage T in first 4 months than in past

HYDERABAD: It has been a blazing start for the state as far as fire cases this year are concerned. In the first four months alone, the number of 'serious fires' across the state this year is already over 50% when compared to the entire year for the last few years.
Between January to April this year, there were 59 'serious fires'. It was 104 for entire 2022; only 87 for 2021; and 99 'serious' fire cases for 2020.Out of the 59 fires this year, majority of them (22) are from Hyderabad region.

In such a backdrop, in April this year the GHMC had made fire mitigation certificates mandatory even for commercial buildings below 15 metres from April. But so far the compliance has been poor. To get these certificates an establishment must have fire safety installations such as extinguishers, hose reel, smoke detectors among others prescribed in the National Building Code - 2016.
According to data from fire department, 15 people have died so far in 'serious fires' this year - 11 of these deaths are in Hyderabad which includes fire at Swapnalok and Deccan Knitwear buildings. The fire department also managed to save 21 lives.
Overall, the Telangana fire department received 3,268 fire calls, out of which 90% are designated as 'small fires' and the rest are almost equally divided between 'medium' and 'serious fires'. On the bright side, the state fire department managed to ensure that ₹576.8 crore worth of properties were saved during the same period. The main cause of fire happens to be 'careless smoking' and 'electrical short circuit' which account for 78% of the total cases.
However, lives lost other than fires, which mainly include building collapses and accidents, stand even higher at 124 this year. Among the common premises where fire occurred include outdoor storage units accounting for 30%, followed by households (14%), farmlands (11%) and forest fires (8%).
According to fire experts, commercial buildings in city are more fire prone than those in the rest of the state owing to legacy issues as they do not follow present-day fire safety codes.
"The government is now looking to bring fire mitigation certificates for buildings that do not come under the ambit of fire NoCs. ," Krishna Sharma, a private fire safety consultant in Hyderabad, told TOI.