Expired fire extinguishers, shoving safety measures to back burner:

Burning to a cinder

By Isuri Kaviratne

State institutions are not upgrading fire prevention systems and safety plans often enough, placing many visiting government offices, at great risk. Many government institutions often overlook safety standards to regularly service and maintain fire extinguishers and other related equipment.

A building that caught fire in Panadura

Unlike state institutions private companies take the risk seriously and collaborate with the Fire Service Department for biannual inspections and regular updates.

"Our experience is that our requests to conduct fire drills are often met with reluctance and negativity by managements in state institutes, but if they send us a request, we are ready to conduct awareness programs." Wimal Kularatne, Chief Fire Prevention Officer said.

During the last two months, three major state institutions had some of their buildings catching fire. The Salawa fire last month, possibly the biggest fire in the country's history caused widespread devastation and damage to property, while the fires at research labs in Moratuwa and Peradeniya destroyed valuable property and put students living on the campus, at risk. These have raised serious questions about the safety standards of state run institutions. Kularatne claimed, the main reason for the two fires that occurred at the Moratuwa and Peradeniya Universities recently was lack of updated safety practices. The universities have not conducted fire drills to prepare students for such emergency situations which he said, the Fire Service Department can conduct if they get a request from university administration.

Several schools, such as, Royal College and D.S. Senanayake College opted to have fire drills and awareness sessions for students, and inspections were carried out at the Sri Jayawardepapura University a couple of months ago, and expired fire prevention equipment replaced. Recent inspections were conducted at College House affiliated to the Colombo University, as well as their IT department. "But these are not regular inspections, though that would be the ideal scenario," Kularatne said.

Old buildings need special fire safety measures

According to Fire Department classifications buildings constructed during the Dutch era are prone to fires, especially if they have wooden floors or stairways made of timber. Special fire prevention methods should be installed in such buildings, and it should not be forgotten that most of the buildings in local universities are very old too, that need constant inspections.

A building that became victim to fire is the Colombo Divisional Secretariat, constructed of timber and limestone which melts at a certain temperature. When the building starts collapsing, it is very difficult to salvage, therefore, maintaining a proper fire prevention system is mandatory.

The building that caught fire at Moratuwa University too is said to be one of the oldest buildings in the premises. The building was to be demolished in a few years and stored only material that were to be disposed of systematically, Prof. Ananda Jayawardane, Vice Chancellor, Moratuwa University said.

The old buildings do not have a fire prevention system, and the extinguishers in the new buildings are expired, the university sources said. The equipment in the new buildings have been renewed after the fire, with signs pointing fire exits.

According to Prof. Jayawardane the fire was induced by lightening, which triggered a fire in a circuit. The only damage caused was the destruction of the chemical waster stored, he explained. Added to this, the fire extinguishers at the site were also expired, witnesses claimed.

A student who was at the scene speaking on condition of anonymity said, the fire extinguishers were expired when they checked after the fire, and the fire hose didn't function as it was not checked for functionality for a long time.

Expired equipment and failure to upgrade

The fire at the Peradeniya University reduced a laboratory to the ground at the Production Engineering Department, while the fire extinguishers available at hand were expired, and therefore, unusable at the time of crisis.

Concerned about the safety of the students, Peradeniya Student Union President Mangala Maddumage said, the two CO2, fire extinguishers available at the time of the fire were expired in 2013. "We haven't had any awareness raising programs on how to behave in an emergency situation or on security in general," he added.

The Vice Chancellor, Peradeniya University too admitted that the fire prevention system in place is over 20 years old.

Prof. Upul B. Dissanayake said, even though the labs are equipped with millions of rupees worth instruments, they are not protected from fires or other destructive situations.

R.G. Wijesuriya, Station Fire Officer - Training and Operations said, at government institutions, upgrading fire prevention systems can be a lengthy procedure, to call for tenders and go for the cheapest provider of fire prevention equipment, depending on financial allocations and regulations. However, he added, within a year, when the equipment expire and needed to be recharged and renewed, maintenance is not carried out as required.

"We normally follow up with the institutions, but most of the private service providers don't follow up with these institutes for updates, and even if they do, there are government protocols for those procedures," he added and said, maintenance is very poor in the state sector while the private sector maintains the systems and updates them regularly.

According to the Fire Service Department officers, the systems available in state institutions such as universities is older and not in use anymore. "On the other hand, updated fire prevention methods are very expensive," Wijesuriya said.

The two universities which have paid high costs for following lax safety measures are now taking steps to rectify the shortcoming. In the Peradeniya University a committee has been appointed to look into the protection needs of the university.

"As soon as I took over as Vice Chancellor, there was a fire, and I set up a committee to look into the protection needs of the university and the solutions. They have been researching about the matter for the last two months when the recent fire occurred."

The university will soon have a complete change of the fire protection systems, Dissanayake assured. The Engineering Faculty already has a lightening prevention system built in the 1950s, which will be updated.

The University of Moratuwa too plans to upgrade its fire safety system in the future.

"There are old buildings that need rewiring which will be undertaken as soon as money is allocated," Prof. Ananda Jayawardana said and added, the older buildings will be demolished and as new buildings are constructed, updated fire prevention systems will be installed.

However, fire after fire, many state institutions seem to put fire safety measures to the back burner.