Defunct firefighting equipment at Heads of the Department building in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 1: Authorities of the Heads of the Department building, popularly known as Nataala, seem to have scant regard for fire safety measures despite a fire having broken out there about a month ago.

The fire, which broke out on October 6, was caused by a short circuit. The damage assessment report by the fire department revealed property losses worth Rs 4.68 lakh.

Property worth Rs 35 lakh was saved because of efficiency on part of the fire fighters.

Although it was believed that the fire would serve as a wake-up call for the authorities, nothing has changed so far. The building is ill-equipped to handle fire mishaps. Lack of circuit breakers and naked electric wires can lead to a mishap at any given point of time.

The office contains wooden furniture and paper files, which are highly inflammable items. Several tea-making units, which are in operation in the building, further raises the chances of fire mishaps. Similarly, most of the time, the employees forget to switch off the electronic gadgets, which can cause a short circuit.

In case of any fire mishap, evacuation would be a huge problem. Parked vehicles occupy the entire building premises and a single entry-exit point to and from the main building makes the evacuation process almost impossible.

As it is a nine-storey building, a panic-like situation would be caused. Lack of free space will also cramp the fire vehicles to operate in case of any mishap.

Portable fire extinguishers were provided after the supercyclone. Surprisingly, these have not been refilled and are lying covered with dust. The employees working there are also ignorant about the use of fire extinguishers. The building also lacks water storage facility.

According to official sources of the general administration department, no precautionary measure has been taken so far after the mishap on October 6.

“The responsibility to refill the fire extinguisher does not lie with us. The fire department should refill this,” said an official of the general administration department, who is looking after the maintenance of the building.

The fire preventive measures for a high-rise include hose reel, weight riser and yard hydrant. There should be automatic fire detection tools such as smoke detector and fire alarm and manual alarm system.

There should also be an overhead tank or an underground water reservoir, a generator set and portable fire extinguishers, which need to be refilled at regular intervals. Though the fire department has sent reminders to adopt these preventive measures, the authorities are least bothered.

“We have sent a number of reminders to implement the fire safety rules but nothing has been done so far,” said R.C. Mohapatra, a fire prevention officer.

Recently, a number of fire mishaps have taken place in the city. Therefore, preventive measures are a must.

On August 17, two bogeys of Rajdhani Express were gutted by fire. Similarly, on September 6, a fire damaged a private building in the city. This was followed by another mishap at the Unit-I daily market on October 31.