Fire safety in residential buildings is important, particularly in a densely populated city like Mumbai. According to Mumbai’s bylaws, strict fire safety measures are mandatory to protect residents and property. These regulations require residential buildings to be equipped with adequate fire prevention and suppression systems, such as fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, and sprinkler systems. Make sure your society is prepared in case of a fire emergency with these guidelines.
What should one look out for?
1. Fire Alarm systems
Fire alarms are important in residential buildings because they warn people about smoke or fire, helping them escape quickly and safely. They allow residents to put out small fires before they get bigger, which can prevent damage to homes. Regular maintenance is necessary to ensure fire alarms work properly when needed. All buildings of 15 m. and above in height should be equipped with fire alarm systems and residential buildings (Dwelling Houses, Boarding Houses, and Hostels) above 24 m. height.
- All residential buildings like dwelling houses (including flats) boarding houses and hostels should be equipped with a manually operated electrical fire alarm system with one or more call boxes located on each floor. The location of the call boxes should be decided after considering their floor without having to travel more than 22.5 m.
- The call boxes should be of the break-glass type without any moving parts, where the call is transmitted automatically to the control room without any other action on the part of the person operating the call boxes.
- All call boxes should be wired in a closed circuit to a control panel in a control room, located as per Bye-Laws so that the floor number from where the call box is actuated is indicated on the control panel. The circuit should also include one or more batteries with a capacity of 48 hours of normal working at full load. The battery should be arranged to be continuously trickle-charged.
2. Emergency Exits
RWAs should ensure that the building’s construction meets fire safety guidelines and is well-maintained. The different aspects RWAs should look for are:
- Every building meant for human occupancy should be provided with exits sufficient to permit the safe escape of occupants in case of fire or other emergency.
- Exits should be visible, and free of obstructions, and the routes to reach exits should be marked and signs posted to guide the occupants of the floor concerned.
- Fire fighting equipment provided along exits should be suitably located and marked but must not obstruct the exit way and there should be clear indication about its location from either side of the exit way.
- Alarm devices should be installed to ensure prompt evacuation of the occupants concerned through the exits, wherever required.
- All exits should provide continuous means of egress to the exterior of a building or an exterior open space leading to a street.
3. Lifts enclosure
General requirements are as follows:
- Walls of lift enclosures should have a fire rating of two hours. Lift shafts should have a vent at the top of the area not less than 0.2 sq m.
- The lift motor room should be located preferably on top of the shaft and separated from the shaft by the floor of the room.
c) Landing door in lift enclosures should have a fire resistance of not less than one hour. - The number of lifts in one lift bank should not exceed four. A wall of two hours fire rating should separate individual shafts in a bank.
- Lift car door should have a fire-resistance rating of 1 hour.
- For buildings 15.0 m. and above in height, collapsible gates should not be permitted for lifts and solid doors with fire resistance of at least one hour should be provided.
- If the lift shaft and lobby are in the core of the building a positive pressure between 25 and 30 pa should be maintained in the lobby and a possible pressure of 50 pa should be maintained in the lift shaft. The mechanism for the pressurization should act automatically with the fire alarm/sprinkler system and it should be possible to operate this mechanically also.
- Exit from the lift lobby, if located in the core of the building, should be through a self-closing fire smoke check door of one-hour fire resistance.
- Lift should not normally communicate with the basement. If however, lifts are in communication, the lift lobby of the basement should be pressurized as in (g)
with the self-closing door as in (h). - Grounding switch (es), at ground floor level should be provided to enable the
fire service to ground the lifts. - Telephone/talk back communication facilities may be provided in lift cars for
communication system and lifts should be connected to the fire control room of
the building. - Suitable arrangements such as providing a slope in the floor of the lift lobby
should be made to prevent water used during fire fighting, etc at any landing from entering the lift shafts. - A sign should be posted and maintained on every floor at or near the lift
indicating that in case of fire, occupants should use the stairs unless instructed
otherwise. The sign should also contain a plan for each floor showing the
location of the stairways. Floor marking should be done on each floor on the
wall in front of the lift-landing door. - Alternate power supply should be provided in all the lifts.
4. Fire Lift
Fire lifts are special elevators designed to help firefighters access upper floors during emergencies. They are crucial for high-rise residential buildings to ensure swift rescue operations.
The following details should apply for a fire lift:
- To enable fire service personnel to reach the upper floors with the minimum delay, one or more of the lifts should be designed so as to be available for the exclusive use of the fireman in an emergency and be directly accessible to every dwelling/lettable floor space on each floor.
- The lift should have a floor area of not less than 1.4 sq. mt. It should have a loading capacity of not less than 545 kg. (8 persons lift) with automatic closing doors.
- The electric supply should be on a separate service from electric supply mains in a building and the cables run in a route safe from fire, that is within a lift shaft. Lights and fans in the elevator having wooden paneling or sheet steel construction should be operated on a 24-volt supply.
- In case of failure of the normal electric supply, it should automatically switch over to the alternate supply. For apartment houses, this changeover of supply could be done through a manually operated changeover switch. Alternatively, the lift should be so wired that in case of power failure, it comes down at the ground level and comes to stand still with the door open.
- The operation of a fire lift should by a single toggle of a two-button switch situated in a glass-fronted box adjacent to the lift at the entrance level. When the switch is on landing; call points will become inoperative and the lift will be on car control only or on a priority control device. When the switch is off, the lift will return to normal working. This lift can be used by the occupants in normal times.
- The words ‘FIRE LIFT’ should be conspicuously displayed in fluorescent paint on the lift landing doors at each floor level.
- The speed of the fire lift should be such that it can reach the top floor from ground level within one minute.
5. Doorways
- Every doorway should open into an enclosed stairway, a horizontal exit, or a corridor or passageway providing continuous and protected means of egress.
b) No exit doorways should be less than l00 cm in width and 150 cm in case of hospital and ward block. Doorways should not be less than 200 cm in height. - Exit doorways should open outwards, that is away from the room but should not obstruct the travel along any exit. No door when opened should reduce the required width of the stairway or landing to less than 100 cm. An overhead or sliding door should not be installed.
- The exit door should not open immediately upon a flight or stairs. A landing equal to at least, the width of the door should be provided in the stairway at each doorway. The level of landings should be the same as that of the floor, which it serves.
- Exit doorways should be openable from the side, which they serve without the use of a key.
- Revolving doors should not be allowed.
6. Staircase & Passage Requirement
There should be a minimum of two staircases one of them should be an enclosed stairway and the other should be on the external walls of the building and should open directly to the exterior, interior open space, or to any open place of safety. Single staircase may be accepted for educational, business, or group housing societies where floor area does not exceed 300 sq m. and height of the building does not exceed 24 m. and other requirements of occupant load travel distance and width of staircase should meet the requirement. The single staircase in such case should be on the outer wall of the building.
Minimum Width Provisions for Stairways
The following minimum width provisions should be made for each stairway:
- Residential low-rise building 0.9 m.
- Other residential buildings e.g. flats, hostels, group housing, guest houses, etc 1.25 m.
- Interior stairs should be constructed of non-combustible material throughout.
- Interior stairs should be constructed as a self-contained unit with at least one side adjacent to an external wall and should be completely enclosed.
- A staircase should not be arranged around a lift shaft for buildings 15.0 m. and above height. The staircase location should be to the satisfaction of the Chief Fire Officer.
- Hollow combustible construction should not be permitted.
- The minimum width of the internal staircase should be as given in by-law 4.8.6.
- The minimum width of treads without nosing should be 25 cm. for an internal staircase for residential high-rise buildings. In the case of other buildings, the minimum tread should be 30 cm. The treads should be constructed and maintained in a manner to prevent slipping. Winders should be allowed in residential buildings provided they are not at the head of a downward flight.
- The maximum height of the riser should be 19 cm. in the case of residential high-rise buildings and 15 cm in the case of other buildings They should be limited to 12 per flight.
- Handrails should be provided with a minimum height of 100 cm. from the center of the tread.
- The minimum headroom in a passage under the landing of a staircase and under the staircase should be 2.2 m.
- For buildings more than 24 m. in height, access to the main staircase should be through a lobby created by a double door with a one-hour fire rating. One of the doors will be fixed in the wall of the staircase and the other after the lobby.
- No living space, store, or other fire risk should open directly into the staircase or staircases.
- The external exit door of the staircase enclosure at ground level should open directly to the open spaces or can be reached without passing through any door other than a door provided to form a draught lobby.
- The main staircase and fire escape staircase should be continuous from the ground floor to the terrace level.
- No electrical shafts/AC ducts or gas pipes etc. should pass through the staircase. The lift should not open on the staircase landing.
o) No combustible material should be used for decoration/wall paneling in the staircase. - Beams/columns and other building features should not reduce the headroom/width of the staircase.
- The exit sign with an arrow indicating the way to the escape route should be provided at a suitable height from the floor level on the wall and should be
illuminated by an electric light connected to corridor circuits. All exit way
marking signs should be flush with the wall and so designed that no
mechanical damage should occur to them due to the moving of furniture or other
heavy equipment. Further, all landings of the floor should have floor-indicating
boards indicating the number of floors as per the bylaws.
The floor indication board should be placed on the wall immediately facing the
flight of stairs and nearest to the landing. It should be of a size not less than 0.2
m. x 0.5 m. - Individual floors should be prominently indicated on the wall facing the
Staircase. - In the case of a single staircase it should terminate at the ground floor level and the access to the basement should be by a separate staircase. However, the second staircase may lead to basement levels provided the same is separated at ground level either by a ventilated lobby with discharge points at two different ends through enclosures.
Minimum Width Provisions for Passageway/Corridors
The following minimum width provisions should be made for each passageway/corridor:
- Residential buildings, dwelling unit type 1.0 m.
