The massive fire that broke out early Sunday morning is a stark reminder of the fire that gutted the Meghalaya Assembly building on January 9, 2001, 18 years ago. That was a beautiful heritage building that was never rebuilt. Instead much time and money was spent just on locating an alternative venue for constructing this important building where people’s issues are meant to be highlighted and government held to account. On November 17, last another piece of history went up in flames and no one is any the wiser about the cause of the fire. The 117 year old Church of God established by the late JJM Nichols Roy’s family, a beautiful Gothic structure was razed to the ground. True the building is wooden and also very old and vulnerable to electric short-circuiting. But that also means that fire safety methods such as installation of fire extinguishers and sand bags should have been in place. Of course very few government buildings have such fire safety equipments and even fewer residential buildings install such equipments.
Whenever a fire incident happens the investigation invariably highlights issues such as lack of precautionary maintenance like the upkeep of extinguishers, fire doors, fire exits and their markings. Till date very few schools have gone through evacuation drills in case of a fire although, they might have done it for earthquakes. Shillong is today an overcrowded city. A fire in one building could spread very quickly and gut other buildings, which is what happened on Sunday. Most residential areas also permit roadside parking which constricts the movement of fire tenders and delays them from reaching the affected area.
According to the residents living around the Church, the State Fire Service did not respond despite repeated calls. Someone had to knock their doors and bring them to the venue. Their preparedness at that hour of the morning is doubtful. The problem with the Fire Service personnel is that they are dealing with outdated equipment and don’t have regular fire drills. The problem with Meghalaya is also that residents flout all building rules. Earlier houses were supposed to be constructed at a distance of at least 4 feet from the boundary wall. Now people build right next to the boundary wall and no penal action is taken against the house owners or builders. Part 4 of the National Building Code (NBC) of India, 2016, is titled ‘Fire and Life Safety’. It covers the requirements for fire prevention, life safety in relation to fire and fire protection of buildings. But Meghalaya does not heed such norms. We are now paying the price for breaking the law on all fronts.