Short-circuits cause for most mall fires, say safety officials

Pune: When Baner resident Dheeraj Pillai recently visited a mall, he took the fire exit route to skip the elevator queue and the crowd around it. “There was a damp, stale smell of garbage when I took the stairs. There was also a section where broken chairs and cardboard boxes were dumped,” he said.Devendra Potphode, chief fire officer in Pune Municipal Corporation and Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority, said fire exits were areas that were not meant for common use. “If broken furniture and garbage are dumped, these exits will be obstructed in case of a fire emergency,” he said.A relook into the fire safety at malls became imminent following the Wednesday night fire at a mall in Aundh. Potphode said, “Specific Guidelines related to the construction, exits, materials used and power supply are mentioned in the National Building Code, 2016 (see box).” The ‘fire and life safety’ section covers three broad areas — fire prevention, life safety and fire protection. He said, “The code is applicable to ‘high-rise buildings and special buildings like hotel, educational institutes, business, mercantile and industrial units, storage, hazardous and mixed occupancies.”Top fire safety officials were of the view that the most common cause of fires in malls or commercial establishments was electrical short-circuits. Besides, there could be issues of overheating in kitchens in food courts or restaurants in malls. “We insist that every restaurant has a kitchen suppression system in place,” said Potphode. “As per guidelines, we have fire extinguishers placed 45m from each other. The number of extinguishers and exits depends on the size of the mall. Usage guidelines are printed on the extinguishers along with the classification of fires,” said Claude Henderson, operations manager, Seasons Mall at Magarpatta.“We also have annual maintenance contracts for all the equipment — right from extinguishers to smoke detectors and sprinklers,” said Vishal Gaikwad, operations manager, Kumar Pacific Mall. Phoenix Marketcity, Pune, has conducted joint drills for various potential crisis situations like fire, terrorist attacks and bomb threats with government authorities such as the local fire brigade, police station, anti-terrorism squad and bomb detection and disposal squads for better coordination and efficiency.“We have a crisis disaster management process, under which evacuation is one part of the procedure implemented at Phoenix. We conduct mock drills as per schedule to ensure efficiency and effectiveness during actual crisis situation,” said Anshuman Bharadwaj, centre director, Phoenix Marketcity Pune.