An Eye Opener for Apartment residents: Guidelines to mitigate and respond to fire break out by Avneesh Kumar Jha

A major fire broke out early morning in one of the high rise apartments of Indirapuram, Ghaziabad.

Mr. Avneesh Kumar Jha, GENERAL SECRETARY FED AOA of Ghaziabad reacted to the mishap saying that Fire Control in high rise is a cumbersome task, once the fire is triggered. He articulated a set of guidelines in case of fire which are as follows:

The most common causes of fire in the urban high rise residential builds are :

1. Short Circuit in electrical circuits and equipments
2. Diyas and candles lit and placed near to inflammable objects.

Both these situations can be averted by adopting some of the preventive measures

At AOA/RWA level:

1. AOA shall instruct electricians to check loose connections at the Electric Meter’s inputs and outputs.  
2. Any type of traditional joints (simply twisting  to electrical wire) used in electrical wiring shall be avoided. In case it is still present, a monthly or fortnightly check and re-insulation has to be done  for these joints.
3. Instruct electricians to use appropriate MCB (Circuit breaker), so that electric supply can be disconnected by these MCBs within the safe limit of currents , so that short circuit spark can be prevented.
4. Electricians shall not put more than recommended load on a single point (like connecting multiple loads on the same operating switch). 
5. Keep the fire  hydrant line recharged all the time.
6. Conduct mock drill for fire, that is once in every quarter.  

At residents level:

1. Residents shall not keep diya candles unattended when they are lit.
2. Must insist electricians use proper rated MCB
3. In case of new plug point connection , insist them to use joint free cable from MCB/switch till the load connection.
4. During peak summer, once in 2 weeks, ask the electrician to check the temperature of all the MCBs on which AC is connected.  In case  the temperature  increases significantly, then the electrician shall check the loose connection or MCBs or the MCB might be at fault.  

The prevention and precaution is the safest bid to save lives in high rise buildings, in case of fire event and it can only be accomplished by the cooperation of residents and AOA/RWA. 
Let us take this together for safe living.