The recent rise in fire accidents rings a sudden alarm for one and all to take care of themselves and the people around. There has been a hike by about 17% in the fire accidents as opposed to the last decade. Rapid urbanization is one of the reasons for this rise. With the increase in the demand for constructions of dwelling and commercial buildings almost everywhere, people are still having a hard time finding an area that they would want. Fraudulent practices have been on the rise because of a lot of reasons, but that is now costing us all human lives.

Given the prevailing laxity on fire safety, India is at greater risk from fires. Fire is the 3^rd biggest risk for Indian businesses, according to FICCI Pinkerton Indian Risk Survey 2018.

Source: FICCI India Risk Survey 2018

Lessons we can learn from developed nations:

There are many lessons we can learn from the already developed nations on fire safety. Here are some of the main things we could focus on:

1. Planned cities yield more security:

Planned cities, constructions yield a lot more security. Undesirable Illegal structures,  poor architecture and design can be avoided when the government takes up initiatives to just look at urban planning,, building by building in a city. The US ensures the policy of taking permissions very seriously and then planning up the rest of the city. The developing nations too should take this up seriously.

2. Taking responsibilities seriously with constructions:

Constructions need to abide by all of the policies and guidelines that exist with the nation, tas defined by the government authorities, Each officer taking responsibility to ensure more fire-safe buildings could lead to fire protected structures.

3. Using the latest equipment to curb fires:

Fire Equipment in the developed nations like the United Kingdom is advanced in the ways they operate. Technology has come a long way through in curbing even large spread fires, and buildings here should be equipped with the same. Even if it is not a part of the regulatory policy, people should build up a habit of installing the latest technology in their buildings and urge the fire authorities to upgrade their own learnings to fight against fire hazards.

4. Serious inspection:

Developed nations take inspection rather seriously. There is less corruption, political influence or any other sort of things that you might see in the developing nations. The driving force behind this is to not put people’s lives at risk just because there are some underlying benefits of one particular party/person. This is one thing the developing nations need to take rather seriously.

5. Building permits or certification should be renewed regularly:

The buildings grow old and structures fall incapable of a lot of things that they initially were capable of. That is the reason why there are building certifications in every nation, for every building. The developed nations take these permits seriously and even if there is one feature that doesn’t meet required standards and invites fire hazards, the building needs to be rectified or made unoccupiable

If we do not give importance to fire safety, every city in our country will become a tinderbox and we may lose many more lives and property to fire accidents