State mandates installing fire evacuation lifts in all high-rises

Mumbai: In order to speed up the evacuation process during fire incidents and emergencies in high-rise buildings, the energy department of the state government has issued an advisory that all high-rises in the state that are equal to or taller than 70 metres need to have a Fire Evacuation Lift (FEL) installed in the building for safety purposes.

So far, only 13 high-rises out of 368 skyscrapers in Mumbai are equipped with FELs even after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued a notification in 2018, making it mandatory for all upcoming high-rises to install Fire Evacuation Lifts.

FEL is a specialised elevator that is fitted in a separate corridor of a building that is away from the occupied area. These lifts are built with fire resistance equipment and the doors are designed in such a way that they can resist for at least two hours.

If we look at Mumbai and Thane together, 21 buildings have FELs in 2022.

Hemant Parab, chief fire officer (CFO) of the Mumbai Fire Brigade, said that the numbers are low because it takes time for the project to complete.

“The lifts are installed only after the project is completed and certified after it is in an operational stage. The construction work takes time and there was a 2 year long lockdown in between. But we have made a compulsory provision that now all the upcoming buildings will have to install these specialised elevators or else, they will not be granted a No Objection Certificate (NOC),” said Parab.

He added that most of the buildings in Mumbai mention in their directives that residents and occupants shouldn’t use the existing lift in case of a fire incident. However, the FEL will be planned in such a way that it could be used by occupants during emergencies.

“Evacuation process happens faster through lifts, when compared to staircases. The firemen should be able to use these lifts as well since the area inside will be spacious. The guidelines were already there in Mumbai, the state government order will now empower us on a larger basis,” said Parab.

Meanwhile, in an official circular dated July 20, 2022, DJ Khonde, chief electrical inspector Industries, Energy and Labour department, said, “One of the key aspects of the fire evacuation strategy is to ensure that during an evacuation process, the lift would collect the residents living in higher floors first and bring them to an exit level. Even the lifts should be programmed in a way to cover the longest distance first,”

“This is advisory at the moment, but a law will soon come that will be approved by the government. In Mumbai, it is already a requirement, and this advisory is next to be mandatory. Also, this will have a retrospective effect as those buildings constructed between 2018 to 2022 will have to have a fire evacuation lift with specifications issued by us. And those who have not installed such lifts will now have to install such lifts. In the end, it is for the safety of citizens,” said a senior official from the state energy department.

“In Mumbai, the rule was already there, but there was a mechanism available by which developers were dodging themselves from installing Fire Evacuation Lifts. With the Maharashtra Government now making it mandatory, evacuation and safety will become a priority. There are no drastic design changes, and existing lift ducts can be isolated from other lifts and the duct can be used for fire safety evacuation lifts,” said Deepak Monga, fire safety and evacuation expert, and head of fire evacuation at Spartan Engineering Industries that manufactures these lifts.