GUIDELINES FOR PERFORMANCE AUDIT ON ADEQUACY OF INFRASTRUCTURE – PHYSICAL AND HUMAN IN RENDERING FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES IN PUDUCHERRY Office of the Principal Accountant General (General and Social Sector Audit) Tamil Nadu and Puducherry 1 CONTENTS CONTENTS 2 CHAPTER 1 – DOMAIN INFORMATION 4 CHAPTER II – AUDIT APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY 11 ANNEXURE – AUDIT DESIGN MATRIX 14 2 CHAPTER 1 – Domain Information 3 CHAPTER 1 – Domain Information 1. Introduction Fire service is one of the most important emergency response services in the country, which comes under the 12th schedule of the Constitution dealing with Municipal functions. At present, fire prevention and fire fighting services are organized by the concerned States and Union Territories (UTs), and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). Directorate of National Disaster Response Force and Civil Defence (Fire Cell), Ministry of Home Affairs render technical advice to the States and UTs on fire protection, prevention, and legislation. As per National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) guidelines, Fire Service is one of the Emergency Support Functions (ESF). The role of fire services also includes effective fire prevention, creating awareness on fire safety, and enforcing the inbuilt fire protection arrangements for various types of occupancies in line with National Building Code (NBC). As per a recent analysis by the Standing Fire Advisory Committee/Council (SFAC) constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India,, the overall deficiency in the country in terms of number of Fire Stations is 97.54 per cent, in terms of fire fighting and rescue vehicles is 80.04 per cent and in terms of fire personnel is 96.28 per cent, respectively, which was quite alarming. 2. Union Territory of Puducherry The Union Territory of Puducherry (UTP) comprises of four non-contiguous regions namely Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. The UTP covers an area of about 500 sq km with a population of 1,244,464 persons (Census 2011). The overall density of population in the UTP is 2,034 persons per sq.km. About 76 per cent of the population of the UTP resides in the district of Puducherry, which covers 62 per cent of the geographical area. The district of Karaikal has a population of 200,314 persons (2011) and covers a total geographical area of 160 sq km while Yanam and Mahe covers 20 sq.km and nine sq.km area and account for a total population of 55,616 and 41,934 persons, respectively. 4 In UTP, the Fire Service Department has been functioning as a separate department since 1984 with the primary mandate of preventing loss of life and safeguard property during times of natural and manmade disasters. Main functions of the Department are Rescue the life and property of people from fire during natural calamities and manmade disasters, educate the public on fire prevention and ensure proper fire safety arrangements, adopt prevention measures in public gatherings during the time of Kumbabishegam, Exhibitions, Circus and VVIP visits, attending special service calls to rescue person stranded in Well, Ponds, etc., and issue of No objection certificate on fire safety to trades and industries involving risks of fire. 3. Scenario of fire accidents in UTP The year wise data on number of fire accidents with property involved, damaged, saved and live lost during the period from 2013-14 to 2016-17 in the UTP is as follows: Year No. of Property No. of Live fire calls (Rs. in crore) Special Involved Damaged Saved Service Lost Saved calls 2013-14 1196 127.12 22.77 104.35 111 Nil Nil 2014-15 1088 20.41 5.80 14.61 380 8 72 2015-16 930 9.30 1.78 7.52 378 27 0 2016-17 1179 42.13 17.29 24.84 316 24 15 4. Fire services in UTP In UTP, thirteen fire stations are functioning - nine in Puducherry, two in Karaikal and one each in Mahe and Yanam regions. Each station is provided with one or two Fire Engines, an Ambulance and appliances1 and life saving equipments2. All the fire stations are provided with landline telephones and wireless sets. The UTP has not enacted the Fire Service Act as recommended (October 1958) by the Government of India (GOI). In the absence of such an enactment, the department follows the recommendations of the SFAC, the Tamil Nadu Fire Service Manual and National Building Code - Part IV. 1 Water Tender, Emergency Tender, Rescue Tender, Foam Tender, Feeder Unit, Small Fire Engine 2 Chain Saw operated by power, Portable Chain Saw, Circular Saw, Insect Protection Suits, Life Buoy & Life Jackets, Aluminium Suits, Inflatable Lighting Tower, Breathing Apparatus Sets etc 5 5. Standing Fire Advisory Council recommendations A Standing Fire Advisory Committee was constituted by the Government of India (Ministry of Home Affairs) on the recommendation of the Chiefs of Fire Services in 1955 to examine the technical problems relating to fire services and to advise the Government of India on matters concerning the organisation and speedy development of fire services all over the country. The Committee was renamed as Standing Fire Advisory Council in the year 1980. The Committee/Council has held 33 meetings and the recommendations of the Council on Fire safety inter-alia included: The State may enact Legislation on the Organisation of Fire and Emergency services and on Fire Prevention covering all aspects of fire safety, enforcement of Codes of practice and NBC of India Each State should have one State Fire and Emergency Service Headquarter (HQ), Divisional Fire and emergency service HQ, Fire Station and Rural Fire posts One Fire station for geographical area of 10.36 sq.km and the Fire Stations should be so located that a maximum of three minutes response time would be achieved in all high hazards and closely built up areas, and a response time of not more than five minutes in other areas The Council has recommended the number of minimum standard equipment that are needed in State Headquarters, Divisional Headquarters and in Fire Stations, and manpower required for its operation – one Assistant Divisional Fire Officer for three Fire Stations and Fire Station to have one Station Officer, one Assistant Station Officer per shift, one Leading Fire Man per fire appliance and other crew for the appliances Fire services should scrutinise all plans for new buildings within the municipal limits of each city/town in the State from fire safety angle and to inspect such buildings with a view to recommend the issue of occupancy certificate. Fire service will focus on Mass awareness to reduce fire accidents, prepare and disseminate simple and educative literature on fire prevention measures Communication and Alarm System should provide a monitoring and information facility in the Central / Command / Divisional Control Rooms, a Watch Room in each Fire Station to ensure expeditious receipts of fire calls and dispatch of appliances to the incident scene, Mobile station on each fire appliance, etc, so as to mobilise the resources from 6 among the Divisional offices. Adequate water for fire fighting within the urban areas should be ensured. 6. National Disaster Management Authority guidelines In order to organize a conscious, planned and a determined effort in all the states to improve fire fighting capabilities in the country, prevent unacceptable deaths and huge loss of property, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) framed guidelines in April 2012 to provide direction and guidance to the central, state governments and the urban local bodies on the issues relating to setting up of fire stations, their spread at different levels, their scaling, type of equipments and training of manpower. The guidelines inter alia covered: To prevent fire hazard, there should be a Fire Act which should inter alia provide for mandatory clearance from the fire service department for all high rise buildings, residential clusters, colonies, business centres, malls, oil and natural gas installations, Hospitals, hotels with more than 100 rooms, cinema halls, stadiums etc. that they are self sufficient in fire fighting capabilities and it should be mandatory for the respective fire station officer to check whether in each such location in his jurisdiction, fire fighting capabilities and adequate escape facilities are in place, fire drills are held regularly and that the people living there are aware of what should be done in case of fire. Provision should also be made for right of way for fire tenders and proper parking locations for fire fighting appliances at such busy and vulnerable locations. For fire fighting, water availability is a vital requirement and of even greater significance in the hill areas where more and more settlements are coming up and it is necessary to ensure that sufficient water is readily available for fire fighting near about the habitations. For this purpose, all available natural resources of water may need to be surveyed and tapped, storage tanks should be constructed at suitable and possible locations within the towns and other vulnerable areas for use in emergencies Fire hydrants existing in the town need to be checked regularly and ensured that they are functional and maps plotting area-wise locations of fire hydrants should be available in the local fire station, police station and revenue office etc. The State shall prepare a comprehensive plan for revamping the Fire Services on the basis of norms laid down by the SFAC for fire services and to utilise the 13th Finance Commission grant for the purpose. 7 The Fire hazard response and mitigation plan should include a calendar of activities for mass awareness and inspection of fire fighting facilities and equipment especially in schools, busy shopping malls, high rise buildings and residential clusters, to reduce the fire accidents by controlling it in time 7.