Over a decade ago, the petrifying tragedy that made hundreds of children burnt to death after their school caught a raging fire. After an in-depth investigation, the owner of the school was convicted along with the other 11 who were responsible for the fire. It happened so, while the noon meal was prepared in the cooking area that consisted of a thatched roof. Unfortunately, the roof that spreads to the other classrooms too caught fire when burning firewood fell on it. The students studying in the classrooms nearby were stuck in the blaze which raged for an hour and couldn’t escape. 94 students were burnt to death beyond recognition while other 700 students were rescued by the 11 firefighters.
After an analysis, it was found that the school never had any fire safety equipment. This incident sparked a massive uproar from the parents and society, and a case was filed against the school authorities. This question raised many questions about school safety and after many hurdles numerous
Measures were taken to assure the safety of the students.
Government and school authorities took various efforts to avoid such incidents. Fire safety equipment was properly equipped to prepare for any emergency. It had become a compulsion for every floor of the school to be equipped with fire extinguishers, sprinkles, and smoke alarms to control any such mishaps. Now and then, the equipment and the internal condition of the buildings are monitored by the school authorities. School vans too are equipped with fire extinguishers and the van staff are trained to deal with such situations and immediately take action in the case of an emergency.
Fire safety prevention in educational institutions:
Mainly focusing on elementary, middle, and high schools, college, and University buildings too are provided with top-notch quality fire safety where firefighters and teams are made to respond to thousands of fires each year with 88% due to cooking mishaps. To avoid all these life-threatening incidents, arrangements are made for On-campus precautions, campus lab precautions, off-campus precautions, and general precautions.
On-campus precautions:
Cooks are allowed to prepare the meal in designated areas.
They are instructed to never leave cooking unattended.
In case of any fire caught inside the kitchen appliances, they are instructed to close the door and unplug the unit.
Campus lab precautions:
Teaching staff and students are clearly requested in the laboratory to not leave the experiment and chemicals along with the pressure vessel unattended.
They are also told to keep flammable gasses and chemicals away from heat.
Off-campus precautions:
Non-teaching staff must make sure that each classroom has a working smoking alarm.
Authorities are ordered to make sure the building sprinkler system is well maintained.
Annually, all the fire-prevention systems and building heat are monitored by fire officials and appropriate measures are taken for safety.
General precautions:
Educate the teaching and non-teaching staff along with students about the evacuation routes and the 2 closest exits.
It’s necessary to know the location of fire alarms and how they are used and that’s why fire officials are hired to train the students and the entire school staff.
If by chance, any vandalized fire equipment is detected, it’s a compulsion to inform the officials for the Campus security.
And that’s why it’s very important for school authorities, students, school staff and fire officials to work together to ensure the safety of their lives and closed ones. MIT’s solutions customizes the services of fire safety according to the needs of the individual set up and brings the best measures and security on the table.