"PROBLEMS OF FIRE HAZARDS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT IN SOLAPUR DISTRICT" A Minor Research Project Report Submitted to UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION By Chief Investigator DR. MRS. NEHA N. CHAKRADEO Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Sangameshwar College, Solapur. Co-Investigator DR. Y.S. KHAN Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Sangameshwar College, Solapur. MARCH - 2012 1 Acknowledgement It gives us pleasure to submit this report on The problems of Fire Hazards and their Managements to University grants commission for providing the opportunity to complete this project by financial support. We have got a chance to look to this matter of hazard management which is very much relevant for the society. We are grateful to our Principal, Dr. R. V. Anyapannawar for his encouragements and moral support. We must thank Dr. N. B. Teli, Head, Department of Geography for his encouragement. His valuable suggestions helped us a lot during the field visits and data collection. We are also thankful to Dr. R. J. Moharkar, Prof. S. S. Maske, Prof. D. S. Patil, Prof. Mrs. M. M. Wadapur, Prof. Dulange, S. A. Nimbaragi & Miss H. D. Ranade for their helping hand in collection and tabulating the data. Prof. Mrs. S. Rajmanya, Asso. Professor, Dept. of Statistics has helped us in analyzing the data. She also helped in interpretation of the correlation analysis. We are thankful to her as well. We are very much thankful to all the villagers of different villages for providing us the information, their expectations regarding this problem. The time to time visits and personal 2 discussions with, the chief fire officer, Solapur Municipal Corporation helped us to interpret the data. His suggestions were very valuable to complete the project. We are thankful to the members of Sangameshwar College Library, for providing all types of sources. We are also thankful to Mr. Vishwas Kamble for his neat and flawless typing work and drawing of maps. Our family members have also supported hole heartedly in the completion of this entire project. The work could not have been completed without their support. Hence, we are grateful to them also. Last but not the least, we thank each and every person who helped us in completing this project. - Dr. Ms. N. N. Chakradeo Chief investigator - Dr. Y. S. Khan Co investigator 3 INDEX 1 Chapter I Page No. 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Significance of the Study 3 1.3 Objective of the Study 4 1.4 Methodology adopted 4 1.5 Scheme of the Chapters 5 2 Chapter II (Literature Review) 2.1 S F A C 6 2.2 Guidelines by SFAC 7 2.3 G. G. Menon, Fire Advisor (Retd) 8 2.4 Mohit Isija 8 2.5 Various Industries 9 2.6 Anand Akmanchi and all 10 2.7 Various Nations 10 2.8 India – Fire Prevention Act 1996 14 2.9 Mr. Vinod Bahuguna 15 3 Chapter III Solapur District : The case Study Area 3.1 Location 19 3.2 Physiography 21 3.3 Geology 25 3.4 Climate 25 3.5 Soil 30 3.6 Natural Vegetation 31 3.7 Fauna 33 3.8 Agriculture 34 3.9 Transportation 37 3.10 Settlements 40 3.11 Industries 49 3.12 Population 53 3.13 Migration 54 3.14 Market Centre 55 4 3.15 Weekly Markets 55 3.16 Summary 56 4 Chapter IV Sample Survey & case Studies 4.1 Introduction 61 4.2 Methodology 61 4.3 The Analysis 63 4.4 Record of Fire incidence 66 4.5 Incidences of forest fires 84 4.6 The causes of fire hazards 86 4.7 Solapur City 89 5 Chapter V Conclusions & Suggestions 5.1 Conclusions 93 5.2 Suggestions 96 Bibliography 99 5 List of Maps 1. 3.1 Location map 20 3.2 Physiographjy 22 3.3 Drainage 24 3.4 Rainfall 27 3.5 Natural vegetation 30 3.6 Solapur Dist. Transportation 38 3.7 District of settlements 42 3.8 Nearest Neighbour (2001) 43 3.9 Population of District (2001) 44 3.10 MIDC & Co-oP Ind. Estates sugar Industries Location. 48 4.1 Sample Villages – Akkalkot 73 4.2 Sample Villages – Barshi 74 4.3 Sample Villages – Karmala 75 4.4 Sample Villages – Madha 76 4.5 Sample Villages – Mohol 77 4.6 Sample Villages – Malshiras 78 4.7 Sample Villages – Magalwedha 79 4.8 Sample Villages – N. Solapur 80 4.9 Sample Villages – Pandharpur 81 4.10 Sample Villages – Sangola 82 4.11 Sample Villages – S. Solapur 83 4.12 Solapur City 90 6 List of Tables 1. 3.1 Av. An M. + /r/ wind – Solapur 22 3.2 Duration of Breaks in Monsoon 28 3.3 Humidity 30 3.4 Land use Pattern 2000-01 34 3.5 Area under crops 35 3.6 Road Trans (2000-01) 37 3.7 % of Population with Tar Roads (2001) 39 3.8 Rn Index 45 3.9 Urban centers 46 3.10 Classification of Rural settlements 47 3.11 Various Industrial units 51 3.12 Population density 53 3.13 No. of weekly markets 56 4.1 Survey of Villages 64 4.2 Supply of drinking water 65 4.3 Fire Hazards in Solapur District 67 Annexure I (Questionnaire) Marathi 101 Annexure II (Questionnaire) English 104 Annexure III List of Sample Villages 106 Photographs 7 When you Need a Fire Brigade 8 PROBLEMS OF FIRE HAZARDS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT IN SOLAPUR DISTRICT Chapter – 1 Introduction– The human life and his property are the most valuable for the society. In the modern period, due to growing industrialization and urbanization process, the living pattern of man has been changed. The natural calamities as well as cultural calamities like social wars, accidents destroy the life and property in a very short period of time. These incidences are many times unpredictable and therefore very difficult to control, in spite of the available human resource. Among these calamities and emphophynetic events, ‘Fire’ is the most dangerous component to destroy the life and property. Man has learnt to utilize the gifts provided by the nature and ‘Fire’ is considered as his first invention. Man uses water, soil, sun and wind for his livelihood. In spite of their benefits, sometimes these natural gifts become uncontrollable, most disastrous and hazardous to human society as well as to the entire ecosystem. The minute observations of man and his capacity for discoveries and inventions have helped him to overcome such problems. Since industrial revolution, the problem of fire hazards has become more serious. Most of the properties in urban sectors, industrial towns are vulnerable to such hazards. Multistoried buildings, narrow roads, compact settlements make the problem of fire more severe. In rural areas, shortage of water, absence of fire control equipments and abundant supply of invaluable materials are responsible for increasing severity of the fire. Accidental fires due to leakage, seepage etc. should be controlled immediately. There should be enough supply of fire fighting equipments within the vicinity of accident prone areas. 9 Now a days, in India the development process of urbanization and industrialization is very fast. There is a growing need of controlling the fire hazards for the reduction of material and life loss Maharashtra in one of the most industrialized and urbanized stales in India. Within the state of Maharashtra, Solapur district occupies about 4.2% of area and 4.5% of population. This district has some industrial establishments as well as large area is occupied by small towns and villages. There are two national highways namely NH9, NH13 which cross of district. The presence of state highways No. SH – 3, SH-49, SH-71, SH- 77, SH- 141 and SH – 151 as well as Central Railway Broad Gauge Lines 482.90 km. represent a heavy load of traffic across the district. There are 52 trains which pass through Solapur Railway Junction in 24 hours. Thus, the problem of fire hazards and its urgent eradication is a need of the district. Considering the area and population of Solapur district, the existing fire stations are not enough in human. They are scattered in the district and are concentrated at the district headquarter as well as towns. Some fire stations are privately owned. It is not possible for these present stations to contrail the fire situations is entire district as early as possible. It has become most essential to develop a network of all fire stations within the district and the adjoining area. Nearly 68% of the population of the district is in rural areas as per the census of India 2011. Scarcity of water is always a problem in this drought prone area of Maharashtra. Relevance of the topic – The topic of 'Problems of Fire Hazards and Their Management' belongs to various disciplines like social sciences, technology, pure and applied sciences geography is the most applied branch of sciences which considers social, pure and applied sciences together. It considers all 10 dimensions of the problem for wellbeing of the mankind. Geographers can justify such wide spread problems spatially. The problems of fire and its remedies are to be analyzed aesthetically and their proper solutions may be suggested by geographers in most suitable manners. The present problem of fire hazards is a social problem However, as an environmentalist, a geographer may handle it more carefully. Hence this problem has been selected by geographers to contribute their relevant information to the planners of the government and private sector. 1.2 Significance of the study Welfare of the society is a prime aim and purpose of a study. There is no doubt, in urban areas; the fire incidences are more frequent. They should be controlled as early as possible to minimize the material and life loss.