SMART SOCHO: Is your expensive home a potential fire hazard?

To avoid a repeat of the recent Powai tragedy, make sure that your home and your family is safe from the dangers of an unexpected fire, by adhering to a few simple guidelines that can go a long way in ensuring your safety writes Rajesh Kulkarni.

When it comes to our home, each one of us is guilty at some point or the other of taking our safety for granted. But like the recent fire in the upmarket, INR 22,000 psf, Powai (Mumbai) highrise proved, an expensive home is no guarantee of protection from hidden dangers like an unexpected fire spreading rapidly and destroying our home in a matter of minutes.

It’s this – it won’t happen to me – attitude that prevents most people from adopting basic safeguards to protect our home and family from such unforeseen disasters. Whether it’s installing a monitored home security system, or just being able to identify potential risks of hidden dangers such as fire and dangerous carbon monoxide fumes spreading throughout your home, these precautions can help create a much safer environment to live in.

So what can you do better to protect your home and family in event of a fire?

According to home protection experts, the first step towards protecting your home and family is to check for weak spots that can start a fire, like faulty wiring for example. To prevent an unwanted mishap, it’s always safer to have all the electrical work done by a qualified electrician.

How safe is your kitchen?

Most Indian kitchens are a potential fire-trap, more so with modern electrical appliances like an oven, food processors and cooking range that are now part of almost every kitchen. Always ensure that your stove burners are off before leaving the house or turning in for the day.

It’s also a good idea to have a fire extinguisher handy here in case of an emergency, making sure that everyone in the family know where it is and how to put it to use. In case of a gas leak, turn off the burners immediately, open the windows and inform the gas company to send a technician. If you use piped gas, cut the main gas supply of your flat in the event of a fire or if you suspect a leak, keep the helpline numbers of Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) at hand at all times.

Keep your grill away from anything flammable — including your home, shrubs and cars. Check gas grill tubes leading into the burner for any blockage from insects, food or grease. Always protect yourself with oven mitts and a heavy apron when using it. Avoid carbon monoxide poisoning by never using a charcoal or gas grill inside your home or in an enclosed area.  Install a smoke alarm as a preventive measure, ensuring it’s always working and the batteries are always charged.

Check the Load Factor:

Air-conditioners, fancy refrigerators, heaters, ovens and geysers the list of amenities that now fall under the essential amenities list is exhaustive, but have you bothered to call a electrician to verify if your home is equipped to bear the electrical load?

Remember there is a limit to the electrical load that a home is equipped for. Overloading a home with electrical appliances that are known to guzzle power can cause a massive short-circuit leading to a potential fire.

So do remember to call your neighborhood electrician before deciding to buy that new double-door refrigerator that your wife wants or the new split air-conditioner that your son wants installed in his room. More importantly make sure to switch-off the appliance when not in use.

Make a Plan

Make the time to finalise a fire emergency plan, share it with your family making sure that every member knows what he or she is supposed to do in the event of a fire emergency. It may just help to save a life tomorrow.

Get Home Insurance:

While we invest our life’s savings into buying our dream home, not many of us think about getting it protected by way of home insurance. By investing in a good home insurance policy, also referred to as homeowners insurance, you can protect your home from unforeseen threats including fire. As the saying going – prevention is better than the cure – don’t wait for a calamity to strike, get your home insured at the earliest.

Invest in Fire-proof Furnishings:

Everyone wants to beautify our home with expensive upholstery and elegant furniture. But how many make it a point to verify if they are fire-proof? Avoid buying furniture and upholstery like curtains, carpets, cushion covers and the like made from highly inflammable materials like silk, velvet and hand-weaves.

Ensure that every furnishing you buy comes with a label mentioning its fire-retardant qualities. Make it a point to leave ample space between individual pieces of furniture and upholstery to make it easier to control a fire in case of an emergency.

Avoid over-loading of common areas:

Common areas in a high rise like corridors, stairs, refuge areas, landings and lift areas can make the difference between life and death in an emergency situation. Make sure all such areas in your building are free from all unwanted clutter like old furniture, bicycles, shoe racks, decorative pieces and so on at all times.

Refuge areas should always be easily accessible and unlocked to provide an easy escape route in an emergency, ventilators are crucial for dispersing the smoke and heat that emanates from a fire and should never be blocked for any reason whatsoever. Avoid any modification in such areas and always make sure that they are unencumbered and free from litter.   

Conduct mock fire drills:

Skyscrapers’ and tall towers make look impressive from the outside but can be potential fire-traps if their residents don’t know what to do in case of a fire emergency.

Periodic mock fire drills are indispensable when it comes to training residents on the do’s and don’ts in the event of a fire and also making them aware on how to use the building’s in-house fire-fighting facilities like extinguishers, sprinklers, fire alarms and so on, before help arrives.

While how to use such equipment is an important aspect of being well-prepared so is the maintenance aspect of such equipment. The timely audit of a building’s in-house fire-fighting equipment is a must and ideally should be held bi-annually.

Wide Approach roads:

It has been seen that in many cases fire-tenders are simply unable to reach the scene of the fire in time because their access has been locked by narrow roads, parked cars and inaccessible areas.

Leaving a reasonable amount of external space completely space free from things like parked cars and ensuring that the approach road to your high rise is wide enough and free from clutter can go a long way in making sure that fire tenders are able to reach the scene on time, thereby minimizing the loss to life and property.