Bhubaneswar: The personnel of Fire Services conducted a surprise check of safety measures in a shopping mall in the city on Sunday morning.
A team of Fire personnel led by AFO Sushant Kumar Biswal arrived at the Esplanade Mall at Rsulagarh with necessary equipment and started checking the mandatory facilities for ensuring safety of the customers and its staff. They checked whether all necessary arrangements were in place to prevent fire mishap and provide safe passage for the people in case of such incident.
Different teams of the personnel spread out to all floors of the mall and verified whether the provisions like smoke detectors and the alarm system were in working condition or not. They checked the functioning of public address system or mike to alert people in case of fire mishap and help them move out in a disciplined manner.
The Fire personnel also checked whether the water sprinklers installed in the ceilings at all places were working or not. Besides, the water storage capacity, the pipes for supply of water and hydrant pipes in the mall were also checked.
Speaking to the media, the AFO said, “We carry out inspection of fire security measures in two ways. In one case, we inform the authorities of the establishment before going for checking and in another case, make surprise inspection. In the first case, we also conduct drill on safety measures. Today, it was a surprise check on the direction of director general, Fire Services SK Upadhyay.”
He further said the inspection would continue for 5 hours and if any lapses are found in fire safety measures, the department would issue a notice to the mall authorities. However, he said the mall has necessary official certificates on fire safety.
