High-rises pose fire safety challenge to civic department
Pune: Even as the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has been granting permission for high-rise buildings in the city, the fire department of the civic body is facing difficulties in ensuring regular maintenance and operation of firefighting systems in existing tall structures. PMC high-rise committee chaired by municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar sanctioned a proposal of 160.45-metre high-rise (habitable 42 floors, excluding parking) at Bopodi on January 9. The project could result in being one of the tallest buildings in Pune once ready. According to the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006, it is the responsibility of the owner or occupier of the building to ensure the structure is fire safe. Once the fire brigade department gives its no-objection certificate (NOC) to a building, it is the responsibility of the owner or occupier of the latter to do bi-annual audits to ensure the firefighting system is in working condition. It also has to submit audit reports to the fire department. Called Form B, all buildings in the city need to submit it to the fire brigade department after getting their premises inspected by licenced agencies, said Ramesh Gangad, assistant divisional officer, PMC fire department. “It is a different document from the original NOC a building is given soon after construction,” he said. Though the authorities have not reported any fire incident in high-rises in the city till date, officials claim the challenge remains to tackle fire incidents in skyscrapers. “It’s the duty of building owners or occupants to ensure fire safety, making sure all fire equipment and alarm systems, especially in tall buildings, comply with the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006. We don’t have a special team or mechanism to regularly check high-rise firefighting systems. We rely on societies and government-appointed licenced agencies for audits to know if the firefighting systems are working properly,” Gangad said. “We undertake awareness campaigns at societies and provide training to members on how to handle fire incidents. However, most of the society members are reluctant and don’t give us time to provide training and conduct such programmes. Hospital and school administration are more responsible and cooperative as compared to housing societies,” he said. Prashant Ranpise, former PMC chief fire officer, said, “Though it is the responsibility of residential societies as per the law, it is also the duty of fire department to send notice and impose fine if societies fail to carry out bi-annual audit and submit report in January and July every year. In 2014, we had sent notices to a couple of high-rises and also imposed a fine.” PMC has given permission of 128.75-metre-high (34 floors) to Macrotech Developers (Lodha Developers) in 2023. The civic body started giving permission to high-rises within PMC limits in 2016. As per the state government’s Unified Development Control and Promotion Rules (UDCPR), a building with a height of 24 metres or more above the average surrounding ground level is considered a high-rise. Accordingly, there were two proposals passed in 2016. One was located at Erandwane and another in Pashan. After almost eight years, the number has reached 44 proposals so far, including 74 towers. Of these, 42 towers have height of 100 metres and above whereas remaining 32 towers are below 100-metre-high. According to statistics provided by PMC, a greater number of high-rise buildings are located in Kharadi, Wadgaonsheri, Baner, and Balewadi areas having higher concentration of IT companies. According to the fire brigade authorities, a building’s height is the single-most challenging aspect of fighting high-rise fires. The second is wind speed. Fire safety in high-rises includes not just riser systems, but also a fire lift, sprinklers, and smoke detectors. Many casualties in fires happen due to inhalation of smoke, so air vents are a must on every floor. It is also necessary to check that an operational riser system has high water pressure. Occupants must ensure refuge areas are kept free of encroachment. In many cases, the building management locks up refuge areas and use it as storerooms, or occupy corridors thereby hampering movement in case of a fire.
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Pune: Even as the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has been granting permission for high-rise buildings in the city, the fire department of the civic body is facing difficulties in ensuring regular maintenance and operation of firefighting systems in existing tall structures.
PMC high-rise committee chaired by municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar sanctioned a proposal of 160.45-metre high-rise (habitable 42 floors, excluding parking) at Bopodi on January 9. The project could result in being one of the tallest buildings in Pune once ready.
According to the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006, it is the responsibility of the owner or occupier of the building to ensure the structure is fire safe. Once the fire brigade department gives its no-objection certificate (NOC) to a building, it is the responsibility of the owner or occupier of the latter to do bi-annual audits to ensure the firefighting system is in working condition. It also has to submit audit reports to the fire department.
Called Form B, all buildings in the city need to submit it to the fire brigade department after getting their premises inspected by licenced agencies, said Ramesh Gangad, assistant divisional officer, PMC fire department.
“It is a different document from the original NOC a building is given soon after construction,” he said.
Though the authorities have not reported any fire incident in high-rises in the city till date, officials claim the challenge remains to tackle fire incidents in skyscrapers.
“It’s the duty of building owners or occupants to ensure fire safety, making sure all fire equipment and alarm systems, especially in tall buildings, comply with the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006. We don’t have a special team or mechanism to regularly check high-rise firefighting systems. We rely on societies and government-appointed licenced agencies for audits to know if the firefighting systems are working properly,” Gangad said.
“We undertake awareness campaigns at societies and provide training to members on how to handle fire incidents. However, most of the society members are reluctant and don’t give us time to provide training and conduct such programmes. Hospital and school administration are more responsible and cooperative as compared to housing societies,” he said.
Prashant Ranpise, former PMC chief fire officer, said, “Though it is the responsibility of residential societies as per the law, it is also the duty of fire department to send notice and impose fine if societies fail to carry out bi-annual audit and submit report in January and July every year. In 2014, we had sent notices to a couple of high-rises and also imposed a fine.”
PMC has given permission of 128.75-metre-high (34 floors) to Macrotech Developers (Lodha Developers) in 2023.
The civic body started giving permission to high-rises within PMC limits in 2016. As per the state government’s Unified Development Control and Promotion Rules (UDCPR), a building with a height of 24 metres or more above the average surrounding ground level is considered a high-rise.
Accordingly, there were two proposals passed in 2016. One was located at Erandwane and another in Pashan. After almost eight years, the number has reached 44 proposals so far, including 74 towers. Of these, 42 towers have height of 100 metres and above whereas remaining 32 towers are below 100-metre-high.
According to statistics provided by PMC, a greater number of high-rise buildings are located in Kharadi, Wadgaonsheri, Baner, and Balewadi areas having higher concentration of IT companies.
According to the fire brigade authorities, a building’s height is the single-most challenging aspect of fighting high-rise fires. The second is wind speed.
Fire safety in high-rises includes not just riser systems, but also a fire lift, sprinklers, and smoke detectors. Many casualties in fires happen due to inhalation of smoke, so air vents are a must on every floor. It is also necessary to check that an operational riser system has high water pressure. Occupants must ensure refuge areas are kept free of encroachment. In many cases, the building management locks up refuge areas and use it as storerooms, or occupy corridors thereby hampering movement in case of a fire.
