New Fire Safety Act makes safeguarding equipment mandatory for buildings

HEED FIRE NORMS OR FACE THE HEAT

New Fire Safety Act makes safeguarding equipment mandatory for buildings, those who don't comply will go to jail

 If your building does not have a fire-extinguisher, a hose reel, an automatic sprinkler and a tank storing adequate water to douse a fire, get ready to install them soon. The state government on Saturday brought into effect the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006 that will make it mandatory for all residential and commercial buildings with more than four floors to have proper fire-fighting equipment.
    Failure to install the mandatory equipment will be a non-bailable offence, with land-owners/occupiers facing six months to three years in jail. Building occupants will also have to pay Rs 30,000-Rs 1 lakh per annum (depending on number of floors) towards a special fund named Fire Protection Fund to be created at the level of the municipal body. The civic authority will utilise the fund to develop and strengthen fire-fighting services.
    The rules, finalised by the Urban Development department held by Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, will be forwarded for implementation to all civic bodies in a couple of days. Until now, such regulations were applicable to seven-storey and taller buildings.
    Now, commercial structures like malls, hotels and multiplexes will have to appoint qualified fire safety officers to supervise fire-fighting systems. The Act also makes submission of fire safety audit certificates compulsory twice a year. Agencies to be specified by the Director of Fire Services will issue these certificates. Any agency found issuing faulty certificates will be liable for prosecution, says the Act.
    Though the Act was passed by the state legislature in 2006, the notification for it to be implemented came in the first week of December, 2008. The President's nod had come in early 2007. Since then, the government took time to work on the rules and implementation procedure. In the first phase, the Act is being implemented in municipal corporations and areas where MMRDA and CIDCO have been notified as special planning authorities, a government official said. Fire brigade establishments, under overall control of the municipal bodies, will now be regulated by the state government's Director of Fire Services. But in Mumbai, the director will intervene only in specific circumstances.
    The mandatory fire-fighting equipment are:

• Buildings less than 15 metres high (upto four floors) - 1. Fire extinguisher 2. Automatic s p r i n k l e r system 3. Hose reel 4. Terrace tank of 5,000 litres capacity

• Buildings 15 to 35 metres high - 1. Fire extinguisher 2. Hose reel 3. Down comer 4. Automatic sprinkler system 5. Manually operated electric fire alarm system 5. Terrace tank with 25,000 litres capacity

• Buildings more than 35 metres high - Besides all the equipment for smaller buildings, they will need wet risers, yard hydrants, automatic detection and alarm systems, and underground static water storage tank with 50,000 to 75,000 litres capacity.