May 26, 2024, New Delhi: On Sunday morning, a children’s hospital in the Vivek Vihar area of Delhi caught fire leaving 7 newborns dead and several injured. The night before, a gaming zone caught fire in Rajkot, Gujarat leaving 40 dead with over 10 children. These incidents are not uncommon and rarely a week goes by in India without report of a fire accident somewhere in the country. Fires at residential societies, commercial building like hospitals, shopping complexes and malls, coaching institutes and offices are fairly common in addition to the old buildings and factories. Given that these incidents continue to get reported and still continue to happen at the same frequency, citizens have been expressing concerns of the need of reforms in the area of fire safety on LocalCircles over the last 12 months. To understand the state of affairs, LocalCircles conducted a national survey to understand fire safety compliance at people’s residence and workplaces, which received over 22,000 responses from citizens located in 301 districts of India. 62% respondents were men while 38% respondents were women. 46% respondents were from tier 1, 32% from tier 2 and 22% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

Only 18% Indians surveyed say they reside in a house/apartment that is fire safety compliant

The first question in the survey enquired about fire safety compliance at people’s homes which is typically access to a working fire extinguisher or a sprinkler system in event of a fire. It asked respondents, “Is the house/ apartment building that you stay in, compliant to fire safety norms?” Only 18% of the respondents stated, “Yes and we get it checked every year”. Rest of the respondents brought to fore the fact that fire safety is very much a neglected aspect in residential apartments or homes, both by citizens and authorities. Of the 11,478 respondents to the question, 19% indicated “supposed to but don’t know whether the fire extinguishing systems work”; 27% admitted “No, we have never done compliance”; 3% stated “No, but we have a fire extinguisher that is easily accessible”; 21% indicated “Never thought of this so far”; and 12% gave no clear response.

Fire safety operations in urban India often fall under municipalities, a tier of governance that is particularly weak. Not only is fire responsiveness slow to respond to citizen calls for help, fire certification and audit process for commercial establishments and even residential societies is generally inefficient, slow, corrupt and requires bribery of fire department officials in many cases. As a result, majority of the home owners of an independent house or even residential societies skip certification unless called upon to do so by the authorities.

Only 27% working Indians surveyed say their workplace i.e. office space, factory, shop is fire safety compliant

The next question in the survey asked about fire safety compliance at workplaces and commercial establishments. It asked respondents, “Is the office space/shop/factory that is your workplace, compliant to fire safety norms?” Out of over 11,000 respondents, only 27% confidently stated “Yes and we get it checked each year”; and 11% were satisfied that “No, but we have a fire extinguisher that is easily accessible”. As for the remaining responders to the survey, 14% admitted “supposed to but don’t know whether the fire extinguishing systems work”; 14% stated “No, we have never done compliance”; 20% admitted “Never thought of this so far” and 14% gave no clear response

The feedback from business owners on LocalCircles indicates that most commercial establishments be it a restaurant, hospital, factory or a store do have to take a fire certification but, in most cases, end up hiring a middlemen/agent for facilitation of the same or end up paying bribes directly to officials. This is greatly concerning because when this happens, officials tend to overlook gaps and short comings and provide licenses and certification even when there is non-compliance.

In summary, the survey reveals that only 18% of citizens in India live in a house or apartment that is fire safety compliant and only 27% work in a workplace where fire safety compliance exists. For the rest, they are residing or working in a facility with inherent fire safety risk. The need of the hour here is for the Government of India to initiate a fire safety mission where just like Swachh Bharat, as many facilities in India are made fire safety compliant. This can happen with funding of fire departments in urban local bodies to ensure they have a responsive fire safety response team and an efficient and clean governance model with mandatory fire certification for every residential and commercial building including training of people who reside or work in these buildings. Until that happens, not much is likely to change and we are likely to move from one fire to the next sometimes within 24 hours like Rajkot and Delhi.

Only 18% Indians say their home fire safety equipment is checked yearly, shows LocalCircles surveyMay 27, 2024The survey, released Sunday, also shows that 27% Indians admit their homes to be completely non-compliant. Many attribute this to \'cumbersome, corrupt\' certification process.https://theprint.in/india/only-18-indians-say-their-home-fire-safety-equipment-is-checked-yearly-shows-localcircles-survey/2103113/articlePrint

After Fire Tragedies in Delhi & Rajkot, 8 Out of 10 Indians Say Homes, Workplaces Not Following Safety Norms - News18May 26, 2024Fire tragedies Delhi Rajkot Gujarat 8 out of 10 Indians say homes workplaces not following safety norms; survey showed despite frequency fire incidents only 18 percent people said safety equipment residential area undergoes annual checks; workplaces 27 percent said firefighting equipment checked annually; latest news on news18.comhttps://www.news18.com/india/delhi-rajkot-gujarat-fire-tragedies-8-in-10-indians-homes-workplaces-not-following-safety-norms-8904876.htmlarticleNews18

8 in 10 Indians admit their home and workplace is not compliant to fire safety norms: ReportMay 26, 2024A survey conducted by Local Circles revealed that only 18% reported residing in houses or apartments compliant with fire safety norms, where checks are conducted annually.https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/8-in-10-indians-admit-their-home-and-workplace-is-not-compliant-to-fire-safety-norms-report-430961-2024-05-26?utm_source=btweb_story_sharearticleBT