Heritage buildings may soon be put through fire safety audits

What’s the chance that we may lose one of our heritage structures to fire? To find out, the civic body’s Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) has decided to put the structures through a fire safety audit.

What’s the chance that we may lose one of our heritage structures to fire? To find out, the civic body’s Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) has decided to put the structures through a fire safety audit.

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“The most critical issue is that the heritage buildings were designed at a time when there were no mandatory fire regulations,” said V Ranganathan, chairperson of the newly appointed MHCC, which met for the first time last week. “The structures use large amounts of wood, store inflammable materials and run naked flames in kitchens.” In some cases, Ranganathan pointed out, air-conditioners have been installed but wires have not been upgraded, putting them under greater load.

The focus on fire safety comes in the wake of the fire at Mantralaya two months ago. On June 28, a week after the blaze, an expert panel formed by HT visited public buildings in the city including Old Customs House, Bombay high court, Aayakar Bhavan, University of Mumbai’s Fort campus and Churchgate station. The panelists discovered that not one of these buildings was equipped to deal with fire. Most, in fact, violated safety norms.“We have requested the chief fire officer to inspect these buildings and give us feedback on their fire preparedness,” Ranganathan said.

Pankaj Joshi, a former member of the MHCC and HT expert panelist, said the fire safety audits were crucial. “These are very important buildings that we cannot afford to lose in a fire. The audit will be more meticulous if it is conducted by fire brigade officials,” Joshi said.

However, bringing fire brigade officials on board may not be easy. Suhas Joshi, chief fire officer, Mumbai Fire Brigade, said that fire brigade officials were already under a lot of pressure to conduct fire audits across the city. “After the Mantralaya fire, we have received hundreds of proposals to conduct fire audits. It is not possible for fire brigade officials alone to audit all buildings,” Joshi said. “The civic body should also appoint listed licensing contractors, apart from the fire brigade officials, to undertake the audit as per the provisions of the Fire Act.”