Surge In Fire Incidents In Kashmir Leaves Trail Of Destruction, Exposes Safety Gaps

The rising fire incidents in the valley have exposed lacunae in the region's fire safety audits even as the authorities rue about 'lack of powers'.

Srinagar: A surge in fire incidents in Kashmir is leaving families in ruins, exposing gaps in the region’s fire safety audit.

For Nazir Ahmad, a former government official, the fire broke out in his neighbourhood when they were readying for dinner in Bemina last month. A short circuit in electricity quickly turned the concrete two-storey house into flames. Within no time everything was gone.

The house was constructed around a high-tension wire where the constructions are usually not allowed given the risk. Besides, the road was too narrow to allow fire tenders to reach the site quickly, leaving a trail of destruction in no time.

“The fire spread instantly. By the time the firefighters struggled to reach the site through another road, the house was gone,” Ahmad added. “But thank God, it could not spread due to lack of congestion in the residential colony.”

These incidents are becoming alarmingly frequent with the latest incident on Monday devastating nine families in Srinagar alone totaling the incidents to over two dozen across the Valley this year so far. In the previous year, over 600 fire incidents were recorded, according to data from J&K Fire and Emergency Services department, resulting in a loss of over Rs 700 crore.

But the majority of these blazes are blamed for human negligence ranging from lack of safety audit to violating the fire safety measures. For instance, the department saw over 90 percent blazes were caused by electric short-circuits last year.

But despite the rising incidents, the department is feeling helpless. Aqib Hussain Mir, who is Assistant director of fire and emergency services department, said that they lack powers to carry out fire safety audits in the region.

The empowerment through a legislation pending so far, according to him, would allow them to inspect establishments for ensuring safety measures are followed. This includes equipping buildings with proper wiring, earthing or fire hydrants for preventing blazes.

“We lack enforcement powers like inspection of establishments and sealing them if not complying with the fire safety measures,” he told ETV Bharat.

Currently, the department has restricted powers like they are mandated to issue NOC for new commercial constructions or Government establishments only. But the law will include residential structures too and hold the violators accountable, he added.

“Generally, the cause of fire is an electric shortcut. It is imperative for residents to audit wires and circuit breakers,” he added.

In historic old cities like Srinagar downtown where hundreds of houses are over centuries old, the risk runs higher. The wires are open and hanging with wooden structures in narrow lanes increasing vulnerability . “The open wires often spark fires. So, there is a need for periodic electric audits of residential houses,” he added.

But narrow lanes with roadside parking of vehicles in congested neighborhoods further aggravate the problems for firefighters, according to the department’s assessment.

The department has small fire tenders but their capacity to douse flames is limited.

“Big fire tenders are significant as they carry more water. But they can't reach sites quickly due to roadblock or narrow lanes,” Mir added.

Faced with this challenge, the department has equipped many areas with fire hydrants with Srinagar city alone having 400 plus hydrants.

But there is a key flaw as they lack dedicated water supply lines, resulting in lack of pressure making it little less effective.

“We do surveys from time to time for installing fire hydrants in areas lacking access. But we have to take feasibility from PHE (Public Health Engineering) as there is no dedicated line for the hydrants,” he added.

On the other hand, Kashmir Chief Engineer PHE Jal Shakti Department Engineer Braham Jyoti Sharma has a solution but only if the fire and emergency services department submits a formal proposal to them.

"We can provide the dedicated line," he said. "But a request for the same should reach us to study feasibility."