Fire Service and Codes Worldwide
Read these two paragraphs from the Pakistan Daily Times:
Lahore’s first multi-storeyed building and a major landmark next to the Punjab Assembly caught fire on Sunday, affecting three floors. People trapped inside escaped using ropes via the rooftop because there are no proper fire-exits in the building. A canteen on the third floor was using a leaking gas cylinder, which no one checked. When people tried to leave down the stairs they found that “encroachments” were blocking the way. As usual the fire brigade arrived late (30 minutes) and took five hours to douse the fire. The firemen didn’t use the ladders fixed to their trucks, which caused the delay. The whole episode was pathetic.
Apart from the fact that our fire brigades are completely clueless, the new buildings in Lahore continue to be built without reference to the building code introduced after the horrible destruction by fire of the Al Fatah shopping centre last year. In such an environment high-rise buildings will simply be mousetraps. Yet, a 40-storey building is coming up in violation of the city’s building laws. The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) says it has directed the architects to take care of the problem. The architects say that the investors, who spent billions of rupees on construction, cared little about the building codes. There will no doubt be more fires. And entering multi-storeyed buildings will continue to be hazardous.
We are fortunate to live in a country that has an excellent fire service and established fire codes with enforcement mechanisms.
If the above paragraph is an indication of how multi-story buildings are being constructed around the world in developing countries, in the future there will be many incidents with large numbers of casualties.
