Fire

ON GOING WAVE OF FIRE INSPECTIONS

By Stephen Wilson

 

" I recall that an acquaintance of mine had just

signed away a lucrative deal where he had

reached an agreement to sell property to a

French firm. He was very happy with the contract because his company would get a

million dollars from this sale. Then one day,

after working in the office all night he stubbed

out his cigarette in a bin . Then he went home.

Later , the whole office went up in flames and

was burnt to ashes. He had to phone up the

French company and inform the deal was off

because there was no longer an office to sell".

Mikhail, a former student of mine who works in

a public relations company told me of this story. We were discussing how a fire could be

sparked off by even the most marginal and

improbable possibilities. You can never be too

sure. This story sprung to mind while I noticed

an increase in notices around block of flats

warning tenants not to violate fire and safety

regulations by blocking emergency exits with

equipment or construction material. Over

the past three weeks, following a dreadful

fire disaster at Kemerovo on March 25, where

an estimated 64 people died , {41 children and

23 adults } , a wave of fire inspections have

been carried out. The move had been ordered

by the General Prosecutor's office. Oksana

Chebotareva ,while entering the doorway asked the caretaker on duty whether the

fire inspector had visited. Local tenants had

been warned not to obstruct or lock fire exits.

Sure enough , an inspection took place.

 

The tragedy at Kemerovo,where 64 victims died

when a mall caught fire shook the whole nation. Shortly after the disaster local people

gathered in the town square to demand answers to many questions such as : Why were many fire exits locked? , Why did it take

so long for the fire brigade to arrive ? Why

was the action of the emergency services so

inept and even casual? What are the real

number of victims ? The callous reaction of

local politicians only further angered local

people . When a man , who had lost his wife,

sister and three children complained to a

politician, he was told : "Stop making PR

out of your grief ! " An indication of an

almost unbridgeable gulf between local

people and politicians is the fact that locals

presume those in authority tell lies. They are

predictable liars. The answers which emerged

from some of those questions were hardly

reassuring . The truth is beyond consolation.

The fire emergency exits to the cinema where

the fire broke out were kept locked to prevent

children sneaking into the cinema without paying. So making money was put above

the health and safety of residents. A lot of

the fire equipment and alarms did not even

go off. In addition, a moratorium on fire

and safety inspections on small businesses

had been signed by President Putin in 2015

as a measure to cut red tape which was

strangling the growth of big business. It was

possibly implemented to contain the corruption

of fire inspectors who turn a blind eye to

malls violating fire and safety regulations.

While this can not be cited as a direct cause

of negligence it may well have been

misconstrued as giving a green light to

overlooking safety in favor of profits. What

is more crucial is not if or how many inspections are carried out but the quality

of such inspections. Are the inspectors

more interested in money or genuinely

concerned about the safety of people?

To most locals who gathered to protest

in Kemerovo it sounds like the former.

Corruption and unchecked commercial

construction companies who use cheap,

shoddy and inflammable material kills.

 

Malls are not the only potential death traps

here . Just casually walk around Moscow

and you will notice that many exits in the

building are locked or sealed . The windows

of homes are often covered by railings. They

keep thieves but potential fires in . For

some reason , people often imagine that

evil, instead of lurking from within , comes

from outside. So the best way to protect

yourself from evil is to turn your apartment

into a fortress. The only problem is that

you yourself might not be able to get out

during a fire. Most domestic violence comes

from within the home and not from maniacs

distantly out there. However, it is more

comforting and flattering to pin point evil

in a precise geographical location. During

the Middle-ages, hell could be found in a

conveniently colorful location on world maps.

 

Not all businesses are casual when it comes

to fire and safety regulations. Just drop into

some Oil companies in Moscow and you

find notices are everywhere informing sfaff

about what to do during a fire and how to

respond. At the offices of Mail Ru, which are

located in a bustling and noisy motorway near

central Moscow , at around 8 .30 a.m. the

security men are all lined up and given a daily

lesson about how to respond to an out break

of fire , a terrorist threat or medical problem.

The chief of security does not just offer a lecture but meticulously questions his men

as to whether they know how to react and

respond. Nothing is taken for granted. It is

a pity that this same procedure is not used

by staff at all offices and malls through Russia

and in deed, in Britain.