Three fire incidents in the last three days in the State capital have elicited focus on the need for shop owners installing fire safety equipment in their shops apart from procuring No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the fire department to meet the fire safety norms.
Most of the shops in narrow street markets including Paltan Bazaar fail to meet the fire safety norms. These shops have not been granted NOCs (No Objection Certificate) by the fire department. The officials of the Fire department are not empowered to issue legal notices, take any action or impose penalty against violators of fire safety regulations.
However, Dehradun Chief Fire Officer SK Sharma said that a proposal seeking empowerment of fire officer to issue legal notice or take action or impose penalty against violators of fire safety regulations has been submitted to the State Government in the past and this issue is still pending with the Government.
Sharma further said, "Three fire incidents were reported from three different places in Dehradun in the last three days and with the deployment of additional fire tenders and adequate firemen, we somehow managed extinguish these fires. The fires were put off before assuming alarming proportions in these places and no casualty was reported.
Proper fire safety equipment was not installed in the buildings hit by fires and NOCs were not procured from the fire department."
Moreover, A list of 57 shops, hotels, complexes and other buildings including the CMI hospital, Graphic Era University, MDDA Complex at Clock Tower, Raj Plaza and other that have not received NOC from the Fire Department was submitted to Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police last year. No action has been taken by the authorities so far.
He further said that the fire can cause major disaster and loss of lives in buildings such as offices, hotels, shops, shopping centers, hospitals, schools and homes. Such disasters can be averted if people adopt proper fire safety norms.
"The best prevention is to eliminate fire hazards. Therefore, you need to know what fire hazards are and what you should do to remove them from your home or workplace" he added.
The Department of Fire Service, Dehradun organises awareness camp at various places during the Fire Safety Week. The department officials are sent to industries, schools, hotels and other commercial establishments periodically to lecture on fire safety management. The officials of the government and commercial establishments are motivated by the department officials to install fire safety equipments and seek NOC from us," he added.
He said that there are five fire stations and one fire sub-station in Dehradun. About 50 cases of accidental fires have been reported so far this year with these fires being extinguished by the department.
"Please follow safety rules and contribute to society by saving lives of your family and neighbours. If you discover a fire hazard you may report to Fire Control Room or call Toll Free line 101 and 100," he appealed.