LAHORE, Oct 2: The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) has managed 472 fire incidents all over the province during September.

The data compiled by the provincial monitoring cell of the service revealed that most of these fire emergencies occurred in factories and commercial high-rise buildings, said a press release issued on Tuesday.

It said these fire emergencies included 124 cases in Lahore, 52 in Faisalabad, 46 in Rawalpindi, 38 in Multan, 26 in Gujranawala, 12 in Bahawalpur, 14 in Sargodha, 19 in Sahiwal, 12 in Jhang and 16 incidents in Sialkot.

The rescue service in other districts of Punjab also managed a couple of fire incidents except Murree, Pakpattan and Mianwali where no fire emergency was reported.

The major fire incidents in Lahore include inferno in shoe factory on Bund Road that claimed 25 lives and fire in commercial plaza on Queen’s Road where 13 occupants were suffocated but provided timely care by Rescue 1122.

In view of increasing number of fire emergencies, Rescue 1122 Director-General Dr. Rizwan Naseer has directed to all district emergency officers to ensure visits of fire rescuers to factories and commercial buildings in coordination with distr-ict administrations concerned.

The fire rescuers have been providing guidance regarding fire safety measures to factory owners during these visits. As many as 10,850 factories all over Punjab have been visited in this regard.

Dr. Rizwan Naseer has requested factory owners to ensure emergency exit with clear fluorescent marking stickers, display of evacuation plan at entry points and emergency stairs isolated by fire doors in all multi-storey buildings.

Factory owners have also been requested to ensure installation of multi-purpose DCP fire extinguishers, fire alarms and fire hydrant systems in all industries and buildings.