Karachi has only 14 fire engines while 30 trucks haven’t been working because of technical issues, the chief fire officer told the Sindh High Court on Wednesday.
The court was hearing a case on fire laws. Four trucks should be parked at every station but the city doesn’t have enough engines, he said, adding there aren’t any emergency exits in many buildings. There are 22 fire control rooms in the city.
Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar said that buildings with no emergency exits shouldn’t even be issued NoCs. “How are these buildings even issued completion certificates?”
According to the Sindh Building Control Authority representative, the authority is working on improving the situation. The court has summoned a report on the facilities available to the fire department and asked the SBCA for a report on the safety completion plan of new buildings. The case has been adjourned till December 8.
There have been about 52 fires in shopping malls and supermarkets in Karachi in the last four years.
According to data available, in Pakistan, fires kill 16,500 people and leave 164,000 injured or disabled every year. The losses and insurance claims run up to Rs400 billion. It is pertinent to mention that Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah visited the Central Fire Station last Sunday and announced on the occasion that the government would disburse “fire risk allowance of three months” to the personnel of the city’s fire brigade department.
He acknowledged that the government was supposed to pay arrears to the firefighters in terms of paying them the fire risk allowance. He said that in the first phase, the government would soon pay the arrears of three months to “compensate and motivate them to show more courage and zeal in serving the people of the city”. He lauded the firefighters for performing their duties to the best of their abilities in despite challenging situation.
