In order to minimise loss of human life and property at industrial and commercial establishments, including malls, where large number of people assemble, the owners will be directed to appoint fire safety officer. “For implementing this, the department of Fire Service has recently sent a proposal to the State Government,” said Dehradun Chief Fire Officer SK Sharma. last year, the department had conducted awareness campaign in 25 educational and industrial establishments and created awareness on fire safety management, he added.
The fire service department has proposed that fire officers be empowered to impose challan on establishments failing to implement fire safety norms. As of now, the department can only issue notices to the establishments caught violating fire safety norms during inspection conducted by the officers from time to time.
Though fire tenders are deployed at incident site after the department is informed, to minimise loss of human life and property at initial level in industrial and commercial establishments, including malls, where large number of people generally assemble, the owners will be directed to appoint fire safety officer as proposed by the department. The fire safety officer should be well-trained from recognised institutions approved by the Government of India.
Among the measures for awareness, the Fire Safety Week is organised between April 14-20 to mark the National Fire Day each year and students and officials of various industries and commercial establishments are informed about fire safety management apart from motivating the officials of Government and private institutions to seek fire safety NOC from Fire Service department, added Sharma. He appealed, “Please follow safety rules and contribute to society by saving lives of your family and neighbours. If you discover a fire hazard, report it to Fire Control Room or call Toll Free numbers 101 and 100.”