10 of 16 major fires since 2015 in Delhi were in residential buildings

Since 2015, 10 of the 16 major fatal fire incidents (in which at least two people have died) took place in residential buildings that do not require a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the fire department, according to data from the Delhi Fire Service

Since 2015, 10 of the 16 major fatal fire incidents (in which at least two people have died) took place in residential buildings that do not require a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the fire department, according to data from the Delhi Fire Service.

Flames and smoke from a fire in a building near Mundka metro station, in New Delhi.  (ANI file)

In the rest of the cases, the data shows, only one of the affected structures had a valid NOC.

According to the data, many of the residential buildings devastated by fire leading to casualties were stilt structures or apartment buildings with a parking on the ground.

“Any residential building that is less than 15 metres high (which was the case in these 10 incidents) does not need a NOC according to the rule 27 of Delhi Fire Service Rules 2010. Most of these buildings had one staircase and electricity board close to the staircase which is a fatal combination. If a fire starts in the electricity board, the smoke travels straight up through the staircase blocking the only exit out of the building. This leads to fatalities,” said Delhi Fire Service (DFS) director Atul Garg.

According to DFS records, Delhi has seen some of its most devastating fires in commercial establishments, some of which were running illegally. Seventeen people died in a blaze at a firecracker factory in January 2018; same number of people died in the fire at Arpit Palace hotel in Karol Bagh in February 2019, then 43 people were killed in a fire at an illegal commercial unit in Anaj Mandi in December 2019. Seven residents of a jhuggi cluster in Gokalpuri died in a fire in March this year and 27 workers were charred in an inferno at an illegal CCTV assembling unit in a four-storey building in Mundka in May.

Garg said Arpit Palace Hotel had an NOC but the management was using an extra floor illegally. None of the others had clearance from the fire department, and also lacked fire safety mechanisms. Records show that only a handful of fire accidents have taken place in buildings which followed the fire safety norms and got a NOC from the fire department, Garg added.

Garg said according to the National Building Code and fire safety guidelines even if an NOC is not required, residential buildings, restaurants and guest houses should have basic fire safety equipment in place. “The rules are clear but they are not followed,” he said.

According to DFS, the buildings which require NOC under rule number 27 are residential buildings (other than hotels and guest houses) having a height of more than 15 metres, or having ground plus four upper stories including mezzanine floor, hotels and guest houses having a height of more than 12 metres (ground plus three upper stories including mezzanine floor), educational buildings with a height of more than 9 metres or having ground plus two upper stories including mezzanine floor and institutional buildings having a height of more than 9 metres or ground plus two upper stories including mezzanine floor.