Recently we have witnessed a lot of incidents of fire in houses, shops, restaurants and factories.
The basic mistake we make is that we do not sufficiently apply our minds to check if electrical circuits are not overloaded, restaurants, factories and godowns are not conducting electrical safety audits. In factories and godowns we do not see what material are we storing, are they hazardous or not and if any segregation is required from other materials stored contiguously. Checking and rechecking is a good habit.
We fail to consider that sparks from coal can fall on fabric sheets /curtains to cause fire and we are callous not to provide for an unobstructed escape route in case fire does occur.
Many times we keep things on gas for cooking and forget, busy on mobile or some such thing.
Many materials are subject to auto ignition and we should know this. Dry leaves catch fire in jungle due to heat and friction.
Some young persons from a housing society should receive training in fire fighting from fire brigade or Red Cross.
When you lock your house to go out check the lights, gas and taps. Recheck these.
We should also have basic knowledge of a fire extinguisher and its use. During society meetings or safety meetings in factories, such things must be discussed.
Checking and checking again is the key to fire prevention.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)