Today I read about a fire incident in a thermal plant storage yard where wild grass caught fire. This fire spread to nearby combustibles with flames reaching very high and in the process damaged two HT cables.
Such incidents or conditions can be seen in every factory. With good intentions, areas will be cleaned. Then, someone else in the evening hours dumps scrap and other unwanted material. Over a period of time the area becomes a big dumping yard along with growth of wild vegetation and the area is prone to fire hazard. All types of wastes can be seen like domestic waste, plastic scrap, metallic scrap, civil debris, etc. Because no one attends, creepers will go up on the HT structures and become source for spreading fire in the event of any fire at ground level.
Good house keeping not only keeps hazards away but also gives ambience and affects positively the persons in the area.
Few months back, a wild grass fire in railway wagon yard lead to complete damage to the wagon. It may be noted that oil soaked cotton waste can catch fire because bacterial action. This bacterial action is exothermic and over a period of time the heat buildup causes sudden fire of the material.
Compared to earlier years, in this year 2010, many fires were reported in different cities of our country and because of courageous efforts by firemen who get peanuts for their efforts, huge properties are saved. All we do for their efforts is to observe two minutes silence on every 14th April, give speeches and forget Fire Services Day and the firemen.
There is a dialogue in Telugu movie, "tinnama, padukunnama, tellarinda". This is what we do with respect many issues including safety.
It has become a fashion to blame regulators for each and every incident. If we are not prompt in what is happending in our house or our own backyard, who can do what.