BMC will not ban glass facade structures

Yet another fire incident and it's the same story. The massive fire episode that occurred at Andheri's Lotus Business Park, a 22-storey glass façade structure, has again raised the same questions.
A fireman turned martyr, while 20 others received injuries in the July 18 incident.

While, fortunately, the building occupants did not face much hardship, it was the fire fighters who were at the receiving end thanks to the presence of the glass façade and carelessness on part of the owner/manager of the structure in maintaining the fire-fighting system. The system in the building, only eight-year-old structure, was found to be defunct. Add to this, reports of poor fire-protection equipment, logistics used by the fire brigade during the operation have come under scanner.

"There was absolutely no vetilation from where the smoke could escape. Even as the fire spread during the course of incident, the glass facade broke into pieces, making the rescue operation difficult," a fire official said.

While these are incident-specific issues, lack of awareness amongst occupants/public in fire hazards makes Mumbaikars vulnerable to fire accidents in the long-run. According to experts like Amarjit Singh Jhandwal, former chief fire officer, residents in mega cities in countries like Japan and South Korea rely heavily on increasing public awareness on how to tackle an incident. "We need to improve on this aspect. Both the occupant and managers of the buildings lack total awareness. How many of us know where the fire exit door/escape route is located on a particular floor of the building? Not many. So, the managers need to see if signs guiding people are embedded at every strategic location," he pointed out.

Jhandwal's observation assumes significance as it will be practically impossible for the BMC to act against those who don't follow fire safety norms, civic officials said. "The Andheri incident is a quintessential example of lack of awareness and carelessness amongst owner/manager of such high-rises. Fire fighting and prevention and spreading public awareness are two things we will focus on. But it is the onus of the building owners to carry out safety audits on their own. For if we have to keep tab and take action, then we will have prosecute almost every building owner/manager. We don't have a mechanism to deal with such huge number of cases then," civic chief Sitaram Kunte said.

On asked about need to upgrade logistics the fire brigade uses, Kunte said the BMC is trying to include in its fleet latest equipment like the highest sky lift/ladder available in the world, the one which can reach up to 90 metres height. "Following the Mantralaya fire incident which took place in June 2012, a team of staffers from New York fire brigade had visited us. According to some of their men we spoke to, it is the building which should fight a fire than the fire fighters. It is not about the equipment only. We are also planning to purchase a new sky lift up to a height of 90 metres. But at the same time, the height of some of the buildings in the city has gone up to 400 metres. You can't have a ladder for that height. So, in this context, it is imperative to have superlative fire fighting system within a structure. There has to be wet risers, smoke detectors, over head and underground water tanks, hose pipes, etc," Kunte pointed out.

While the BMC has ruled out possibility of banning construction of glass façade structures, the municipal commissioner though assured to expedite the procedure to set in guidelines to avoid/minimize fire hazards in a building.

"We cannot ban glass façade buildings. Across the globe, there are so many glass façade buildings being built. So, we can't come to a conclusion that construction of glass façade buildings should be banned. Rather, we should focus on finding out ways to tackle fires in such buildings. As we learnt from the Andheri incident, glass sliding could not be identified in the high-rise. The need is to address these issues than implementing a ban," civic chief Sitaram Kunte concluded.

On September 7, 2012, a fire had broken out on the 12th floor of First International Financial Centre in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC). The building had a glass façade. In the wake of the incident, Kunte had asked fire brigade and building proposal department to put in place guidelines for glass façade structures. Some of them are as follows:
* A window-like opening on each floor of glass-façade buildings is mandatory. The opening should be at least 1.5 metre wide and 1.5 metre high. On each floor, such windows should be created at a distance of 15 metre.
* The window should be positioned such that it is overlooks an access road. This will allow easy access to the ladder in case a fire breaks out an upper floor.
* The window should have manual opening mechanism from not just from inside outside as well.
* The glass panel should swing open horizontally — left to right or vice versa – instead of opening vertically like, for instance, the boot of a car.
* The distance between a building's glass exterior and the inner brick periphery wall should not be more than 300mm.
* Smoke barriers should be placed on each floor. This will prevent the smoke from billowing onto either the higher or lower floors. The smoke barriers should be of non-combustible material.
* The glass material should be such that it can withstand and resist a fire for at least an hour.
* Coating of any film made of plastic or any combustible material shall not be allowed on either the internal or external wall of the glass façade.

BMC's plan to appoint an infection officer to check glass façade buildings on backburner

The BMC's plan to appoint an infection officer is still in pipeline. The corporation has considered the idea following complaints about those working inside glass façade structure facing health issues, especially respiratory ones, due to lack of ventilation.
In 2012, the municipal corporation had decided to appoint a microbiologist as an infection control officer to address the issues. The officer was supposed to survey such buildings and suggest recommendations. In addition to this, he/she was supposed to train civic engineers from the building proposals and development plan departments to give them an insight into the problem.
Proper ventilation in buildings, which allow sunlight, helps kill bacteria. But in these so-called eco-friendly structures the glass absorbs and radiates excessive heat. And, in case of fire, the heat helps the flames spread quickly. That's why most people working in such buildings often complain of continuous cough and cold and viral infections. Persistent upper respiratory problems also lead to severe health disorders.

Fire brigade doesn't have count of glass facade buildings

As the municipal commissioner agrees that developers show more inclination towards constructing buildings with glass façade, the fire department seems to have no clue about the number of such structure.
"We neither have records of the number of glass facade buildings in the city. Also, we do not keep any records of fire incidents in such structures. The draft of fire safety guidelines has been prepared. But we will need to rework on the same it seems in view of some incidents that have taken place recently," a senior fire officer said, wishing not to be named.

Damaging environment?

According to experts, most glass facade buildings must be designed correctly to suit environmental factors and there should be judicious use of glass.
Presently, very few buildings have been designed correctly. So, wrongly-built structures are doing more harm to environment in the form of heat-island effect, bird hits and bad indoor air quality.
"Since temperature in India is on the higher side, naturally glass panes would heat up more and thus, require more energy to air-condition the building," a city-based energy efficient building design and renewable energy consultant, said on condition of anonymity.