KARACHI: City planners, fire safety experts, emergency responders, disaster management authorities and rescue officials on Thursday stressed the urgent need to introduce fire safety education as a subject in school curriculum, warning that a lack of awareness about disas-ter preparedness and management could further compound the suffering caused by such incidents.
Speaking at the fourth National Fire Safety Conference and Risk-Based Award Ceremony, organised by the Fire Protection Association (FPA) at a local hotel, speakers agreed that incidents such as the Gul Plaza fire and the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) fire could only be prevented or their impact minimised through widespread public awareness, improved fire safety measures and basic firefighting training.
Highlighting the lack of public awareness and seriousness about fire incidents, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation(KMC) Chief Fire Officer Humayun Khan cited the example of the Gul Plaza fire, saying the Central Fire Station ‘received information about the incident nearly 26 minutes after it broke out’.
‘You must have seen several videos of the Gul Plaza fire from its early stages,’ he said. ‘This is part of the problem. With the growing craze for social media, people tend to pull out their mobile phones and capture sensational moments to post on their accounts. Unfortunately, very few actually think of informing the fire department or other relevant disaster management authorities.
He mentioned that the number of fire stations in Karachi had increased from 22 to 28,while the fire brigade currently had eight snorkels and 52 water bowsers.
He said the city had witnessed around 160 fire incidents in the past two weeks, raising serious questions about public awareness and preparedness.
Stressing the need to make fire safety and firefighting training part of the education system, he said such training should be introduced at school, college and university levels.
He also identified narrow roads and encroachments as major obstacles to firefighting operations, warning that these factors often hinder emergency vehicles from reaching incident sites in time.
Abid Jalal, chief operating officer of Rescue 1122, said thatafter the Gul Plaza incident, the Sindh chief secretary formed a committee and that, as a participant, he learned that around 1,900 buildings had been audited since January, with serious fire safety deficiencies identified in a majority of them.
He revealed that more than 70 per cent of the buildings inspected were found to be below the required fire safety standards, highlighting the urgent need for stricter enforcement and improved safety measures.
Emphasising the need for a comprehensive review of fire safety regulations, he called for the establishment of a dedicated technical body to oversee standardisation, evaluation and compliance, while also examining why fire incidents repeatedly occur at the same locations.
He said the existing building code, introduced in 2016, was outdated and needed to be revised in line with current requirements. ‘We need to update the building code and ensure that fire safety standards are properly evaluated and implemented,’ he said.
‘Despite several seri-ous and devastating fire incidents, the implementation of building codes remains a major challenge. We must sit together and work collectively to ensure their effective enforcement’, he added.
Absence of adequate firefighting infrastructure criticised Former Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Javed Bilwani criticised the absence of adequate firefighting infrastructure in Pakistan’s largest commercial centre.
He claimed Karachicontributed approximately 54pc of national exports and 67pc of tax revenues, yet industrial estates and markets, including McLeod Road, lacked essential fire hydrants. He recalled that fire hydrants had been installed at Habib Bank Plaza during construction, questioning why similar facilities were not widely available.
Fawad Bari, chief executive officer of Hussain Habib Trading Pvt. Ltd., called for teaching children basic emergency responses, including howto escape burning buildings and extinguish burning clothes.
He warned against pouring water on burning cooking oil or electrical fires, stressing the need for appropriate extinguishers and for electricity to be discontinued whenever it was safe to do so.
FPAP President Kanwar Waseem said fire safety must move beyond firefighting towards prevention through public awareness, professional training, technical expertise and institutional accountability.
He said buildings must have functional fire alarms, sprinklers, extinguishers and accessible emergency exits, while occupants and employees should receive practical training rather than relying entirely on rescue services.
He emphasised that the government, educational institutions, media and business community must work together to develop a culture of prevention. He added that the association had introduced fire safety certification courses recognised by NED University and contributed to the 2016 building codes.