• Experts criticise role of SBCA in implementing building by-laws
• FPA chief says over 2,900 big and small fires reported in Karachi over 11 months

KARACHI: City planners, engineers and architects at a conference on Tuesday raised concerns about the effectiveness of regulatory bodies like the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) in Karachi and questioned their failure to enforce building by-laws by approving illegal construction of multi-storey residential, commercial, and industrial buildings without fire safety plans.

They said that the issue of fire safety had assumed alarming proportions amid such incidents already reaching 3,000 this year alone in Karachi.

They also highlighted that 70 per cent of residential, commercial and industrial buildings in the city lacked adequate fire safety system, emphasising that failure to adhere to building codes during construction had resulted in substantial loss of life and property in the event of fires.

Addressing the “Second National Fire Safety Conference and Risk-Based Award Ceremony” organised by the Fire Protection Association (FPA) at a local hotel, both local and globally renowned experts called for immediate and effective measures from both the government and businesses of the country to tackle the challenge posed the situation due to which millions of lives in the metropolis were at risk.

“Nearly 5,000 fire incidents have occurred in Karachi over the past two years,” said FPA president Kunwar Waseem.

“In 2023, there were 2,228 fire incidents, and by November this year, about more than 2,900 fires have already been reported. The lack of adhering to fire safety regulations has led to significant loss of life and financial damages. We should move fast before it’s too late and when we use the word “we” it means that this challenge demands collective efforts from both the government and businesses of the country.”

Explaining this, Mr Kunwar cited the official data of the city’s fire department which said that at 29 fire stations of the metropolis a total of 2,228 calls of distress were received in 2023 which were responded by the officials sending fire tenders to the respective sites.

These included all major and small fires which could not be extinguished through available resources and were required to be put off by firefighters, he added.

“Similarly, in 2024 till November more than 2,900 calls were received by different stations in the city. The city fire department officially releases the data after December so see the number could cross 3,000 mark by the end of the year,” he added.

Referring to the data that suggested that 70 per cent of buildings in Karachi, including residential, commercial, and industrial structures, were without fire safety measures, he pointed out that building safety codes were not followed during construction, which had contributed to the high number of fatalities in case of fires.

“In the past, joint fire safety and first aid training had been conducted in schools and colleges, but this practice has now ceased,” said the FPA president.

“The importance of providing fire safety training to children in schools has increased manifold. Similarly, we have some 8,000 industrial units, which also require training for their employees as part of a humanitarian effort.”

Tariq Moeen, director training at the FPA, said more than two third buildings on I.I. Chundrigar Road and Sharea Faisal, which housed headquarters of dozens of companies and generate businesses worth billions of rupees every year, lacked even emergency exits.

“These facts actually bring into question the process of building plan approvals for multi-storey residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. These buildings, in the event of a fire, become major causes of both financial and human losses,” he added.

Dr Rizwan Naseer of Rescue 1122, in his address through video link, said there was a need of basic training of every individual so a large portion of population could become aware of immediate actions to take in case of an emergency.

“These basic trainings in case of such events prevent major financial and human losses,” he said.

“For instance, due to this basic training in Europe and other developed regions at school level and even at different organizations, people cover their heads with wet towels when they exit from the place under a fire. While here we see in our region due to lack of basic awareness and training, people get into panic and such reaction leads to more losses. So we should emphasise the need for fire safety education as well at early age.”

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2024