Private firms to monitor fire safety equipment in buildings: civic body

Thus,the civic body will appoint private agencies for the purpose,he said adding one agency each will be appointed for the four zones.

“The fire department would give no-objection certificate for the buildings after ensuring the installation of fire safety equipment,but the private agency would be responsible for continously monitoring the equipment and test its operations,” Ashtikar said.

The occupants of the building fail to maintain the fire safety equipment and it does not work during fire incidents,he added.

The agency will submit the report of each building on fire safety facilities and their condition so that the civic body can take up the issue with the respective building owners,said Ashtikar.

PMC chief fire officer Prashant Ranpise said the state government had tightened the fire safety norms and building owners with no proper safety equipment will be penalised.

“The agency will help the civic body identify buildings with non-functional fire safety equipment so that action will be taken against the owners,” he said adding the civic body was also upgrading its own fire safety facilities and preparing a mitigation plan to reduce the response time of the fire department to tackle any fire incidents in short span.