Business community urged to install Fire Hydrants in markets

LAHORE : Ex-President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCC&I) Irfan Iqbal Sheikh committed to installing Fire Hydrants in all commercial markets of Lahore.

He expressed these views during his visit to Emergency Service Headquarters and meeting with Dr Rizwan Naseer, Director General Punjab Emergency Service Department (PESD).

Dr Rizwan Naseer DG PESD explained to him about the Rescue 1122 Integrated Emergency Management System, which started in 2004 and has so far rescued over 9.4 million victims of different emergencies. Rescue Fire Service had responded to over 166,000 fire incidents and saved losses worth over Rs 500 billion by improving response and professional firefighting in Punjab.

He further said that if we establish the best service in the world, fire response cannot be effective if each time Fire Vehicles have to go for filling of the water and that too especially during rush hours or in congested markets. Dr Rizwan urged that the business community needs to come forward to install Fire Hydrants as per Fire Safety Provisions in Building Safety Codes to save their businesses. He stressed the availability of Fire Hydrants with water storage in all commercial buildings for effective firefighting. DG Rescue further said Rescue teams are ready to impart safety training to business communities so they could have a safety team in their buildings for initial emergency response in case of fire emergencies. The Ex-President LCCI Irfan Sheikh took responsibility for the installation of fire hydrants in all commercial markets. He said I am impressed with the great work done by the Emergency Service and I highly appreciate your concerns for improving the fire emergency response system.

This is a collective responsibility of all of us and on behalf of the business community, I would ensure to install fire hydrants in the commercial markets of Lahore and promote fire safety by training the business community through Emergency Service. DG PESD appreciated his interest and commitment to save businesses from fire incidents. Meanwhile, the Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) responded to 960 Road Traffic Crashes (RTCs) in all 36 districts of Punjab during the last 24 hours. In these RTCs 11 people died, whereas 1071 were injured. Out of this, 659 people were seriously injured who were shifted to different hospitals. Whereas, 412 minor injured victims were treated at the incident site by Rescue Medical Teams thus reducing the burden of Hospitals. The majority (68%) involved Motorbikes, therefore effective enforcement of traffic laws and lane discipline are essential to reduce this increasing number of Road Traffic Crashes. Further, the analysis showed that 427 drivers, 24 underage drivers, 156 pedestrians, and 499 passengers were among the victims of these road traffic crashes. The statistics show that 211 RTCs were reported in Lahore which affected 231 persons placing the Provincial Capital at top of the list followed by 87 in Faisalabad with 73 victims and at third Multan with 68 RTCs and 70 victims.

The details further reveal that 1082 victims were affected by road traffic crashes including 872 males & 210 females, while the age group of the victims shows that 226 were under 18 years of age, 530 were between 18 and 40 years and the rest of the 326 victims were reported above 40 years of age. According to the data 768 motorbikes, 128 auto-rickshaws, 123 motorcars, 43 vans, 10 passenger buses, 28 trucks and 119 other types of auto vehicles and slow-moving carts were involved in aforesaid road traffic accidents.