Hyderabad City Lacks Safety Equipment to Douse High-rise Fires

Hyderabad: While the city is rapidly expanding vertically, with high-rises and condominiums the norm in newer parts of the city, official machinery is failing to keep pace, as the fire department does not have a skylift that can reach beyond 18 floors in case of an emergency.

The state currently owns two skylifts — which are vehicle-mounted hydraulic platforms — that can extend up to 54 metres, or 18 floors, while this year, permission was granted for a 59-storey building in the city.

The construction of the first 20-floor building in the city, at Manikonda, can be traced back to 2007, with authorities dithering in procuring the equipment for 16 years, so far.

When questioned about the safety measures for high-rise buildings, officials of the Telangana State Disaster Response & Fire Services (TSDRFS) said that they have sent a proposal, seeking a skylift that can extend for up to 101 metres.

“We have already sent a proposal seeking a vehicle-mounted hydraulic platform that can reach up to 101 metres. It can go up to 33 or 34 floors. We are awaiting organisation grants under the 15th Finance Commission,” said C. Lakshmi Prasad, director, Telangana State Fire Service & Civil Defence Training Institute, Hyderabad.

He said this would match global standards, as the 101-metre skylift is the highest one in use across the world.

A TSDRFS official said that in addition to the 101-metre skylift, another proposal was sent for two more skylifts that can reach up to 90 metres and 60 metres.

Presently, residents of high-rise apartments are dependent on the infrastructure provided by the builder, which includes fire detection and alarm systems, hose reels, wet risers, yard hydrants, automatic sprinklers and water reservoirs.

“To douse a major fire, water sprinklers are not effective. Other fire safety measures are also not as effective as skylifts used by TSDRFS,” said S.P. Anchuri, a structural engineer and vice president (south), Structural Engineers World Congress.

Members of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai) said that they have funded the authorities for procuring better fire safety equipment.

“We were informed by the authorities that the procurement of the skylift that can reach over 100 meters is in final stages,” said V. Rajashekar Reddy, general secretary of Credai Hyderabad.