Fire evacuation lifts must for high-rises

Mumbai: In a bid to improve fire safety, the state energy department has in association with local bodies and Fire department, has made it mandatory for developers to install and operate fire evacuation lifts in every high-rise building taller than 70m built since January 2018.

A circular to this on the issue was July 20 and made applicable with immediate effect.

The move follows several recent fires reported in high rises, especially in Mumbai, which have claimed the lives of both residents as well as fire department personnel. The circular states that emergency evacuation via staircases becomes impractical in tall buildings in case of a fire, and notes that safer, more effective and reliable evacuation strategies need to be implemented at the design stage itself.

The circular also notes that although some buildings in Mumbai and its suburbs have fire evacuation lifts, these do not conform to the standards of design construction and operational procedures, and were installed without getting necessary approvals from concerned competent authorities.

A recent high-level meeting to create a policy in this regard was attended by top officials from the Mumbai civic body, fire, engineering and Chief Electrical Inspector of Industries, Energy and Labour department.

Accordingly, it is mandatory to obtain the permission for erection and license for operation of fire evacuation lifts in Maharashtra, the circular says.

Estimated to evacuate approximately 100 people in 30 minutes, Fire evacuation lifts can collect occupants from the highest floors first, shuttle them down to the exit level, and return swiftly to carry more. They can even be programmed accordingly, thus enabling fire fighters to reach top floors quickly and easily.

The lifts are also expected to provide a much awaited solution to the fire brigade teams across cities in combating high rise fires as they can swiftly reach higher floors which their tallest fire ladders cannot reach. In some instances, the fire fighters had to lug breathing apparatus and physically climb more than 20 floors to reach the people stuck on higher floors.