The New Town authorities will undertake fire audits in housing complexes and cooperative societies across the township to check how many of them have fire detection and fighting systems such as smoke sensors, water sprinklers and fire extinguishers.
On Thursday afternoon, an elderly woman was rescued and brought down with the help of an aluminum ladder from her third-floor flat at Balaka Abasan in Mahisbathan, near New Town, after a fire broke out in the flat’s kitchen.
Six other residents, including a two-and-a-half-year-old child, from other flats in the building had taken shelter on the roof and were rescued by firemen.
A senior official of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) said the fire at Balaka Abasan — built in 2001 — had prompted them to decide on starting the fire audit immediately.
“Fire audits were held regularly in New Town. We could not do so in the past couple of years because of the pandemic. We will start the audit next week,” the official said.
According to the official, multiple teams from NKDA will fan out across Action Areas I, II and III. The teams will be headed by engineers who are aware of the firefighting systems.
“The teams will check whether housing complexes and standalone apartment blocks have a fire-fighting system in place, including smoke detectors, water reservoirs and fire extinguishers,” the official said.
In the places where such systems have not been installed, the teams will provide the residents welfare associations (RWA) of the housing complexes or the secretaries and presidents of the housing cooperatives with a blueprint of an effective fire-fighting system tailored to their needs.
In complexes with such systems installed, the teams will check whether the smoke detectors and sprinklers work, whether there is an adequate amount of water in the reservoir and whether the fire extinguishers are recharged and maintained properly.
NKDA chairman Debashis Sen said the fire audit would start with Balaka Abasan. Buildings that came up in the early 2000s will initially be covered by the audit.
Built in 2001, Balaka Abasan is one of the oldest housing complexes in the area and has around 1,000 flats of various sizes. The complex has no fire-fighting system.
“We will start the fire audit with Balaka Abasan and hand them a blueprint of a fire-fighting system best suited for a medium-sized housing complex like this,” said Sen.
According to another senior NKDA official, the onus of installing the firefighting systems will lie on the RWAs and housing cooperatives as these are private properties.
New Town has more than 25 big and small housing complexes spread across the three action areas. Many housing complexes and standalone apartment blocks are coming up in the township.