'Fire Safety in India' deliberated on 15th formation day of NDMA

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy on Friday inaugurated the 15th Formation Day of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) here. The theme of this year's Formation Day was 'Fire Safety'.

During his address at the valedictory session, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Dr PK Mishra said, "Fire preparedness requires all relevant stakeholders - from the national right up to the local and community level - to come together."

"The local administrations should collaborate with fire services and come up with solutions best-suited to their local contexts to reduce the response time and increase the efficiency of response," Mishra added.

Three sessions were held in the day-long event.

"'Fire Risk in India' was discussed in the first session which focused on issues pertaining to fire Safety Management in the country, like Train Fires, Electric Vehicles charging stations and Fires in Warehouses," read to a press release by the National Disaster Management Authority.

In the second session, discussions were held on potential measures to prevent and mitigate fire-related events and also included presentations on how to reduce fire risks in urban areas.

"The third session saw presentations on challenges related with fire fighting institutions and on the aspects related to the need of modernization and technological up-gradation of Fire Services in the country, vis-a-vis the rapid developmental growth," the press release read.

At the event, a number of reports and guidelines prepared by NDMA for disaster risk reduction in the country were also released including the 'National Guidelines on Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction.'

"India became the first country in the world to come out with National Guidelines on Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction," the press release stated.

NDMA also released a series of videos on tips on how to survive a disaster with Indian Sign Language incorporated.