Remembering 26/11: What we CAN do

A year after the country faced one of the worst attacks in recent history, the memory of that disastrous day continues to make us shudder. Nothing can heal the wounds that tore apart the very soul of the country and took so many innocent lives. While the best we can do for the departed souls is to say a silent prayer in their memory, there is a lot more that can be done to ensure better control in the event of a similar attack in future.

Quite evidently, the biggest threat to any building, be it a dwelling or a commercial setup, is from fire. Not less than seven explosions rocked the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Oberoi Trident at Mumbai on that fateful day that was 26th November 2008. The fire at the Mumbai hotels spread fast due to heavily furnished rooms, posing the biggest challenge. Most of the carpets, curtains, furniture, runners and suspenders used for the false ceiling were made of combustible material. One way to combat this problem is to treat these articles with fire-retardant materials. Another way is to altogether block the fire from entering the building interiors. Concrete walls, though indispensable to buildings, may not provide every kind of protection for complete safety. Often, a second cladding on the inside of a concrete wall can provide double protection.

A more recent incident that reinforced the importance of fire safety is the fire that burned down the IOC terminal at Jaipur on 29th October this year. This fire was an unstoppable force of nature; more than 30 industrial units were completely destroyed and several lives lost.

A startling observation I made from media reports on this disaster was the impact on neighbouring buildings that remained physically untouched by the fire - the glass on the windows and facades of these buildings were damaged beyond redemption. I discovered (through research fuelled by curiosity) that one of the by-products of fire is radiant heat – an invisible killer that can be just as dangerous as the fire itself. It was this very radiant heat that damaged the glass on these buildings. Radiant heat is invisible and comprises extremely intense electromagnetic waves that travel at the speed of light. On striking an object, these waves are absorbed and their energy is converted into heat. Combustible objects like paper and wood auto-ignite due to the heat when they reach their flash point.

I further discovered that had the glass on these neighbouring buildings been of a certain “tempered” variety, it would have disintegrated into small harmless pebble-like pieces which do not hurt. An even better measure would have been to install “fire-resistant glass” on these buildings. This is often done for structures that are located close to fire disaster-prone setups such as oil plants. The IOC structures could also have been insulated with this fire-resistant glass, in which case the radiant heat from the fire might not have been felt on the outside at all! The presence of such fire-resistant claddings within the buildings could have bought for its occupants, sufficient time to save their lives.

This kind of glass offers fire resistance of varying degrees, depending on the requirement. There is a kind that cuts off the fire itself along with the smoke, and another that also stops the penetration of the equally deadly radiant heat that emanates from the fire. The protection offered by these varieties of fire-resistant glass are usually categorised into “Integrity”, “Integrity and Radiation Control”, and “Integrity and Insulation”.

You can read more about this by visiting this site:

http://in.saint-gobain-glass.com/b2c/default.asp?nav1=pr&nav2=single%20pane&id=27452

There is a very interesting downloadable document that explains precisely how fire resistance works, what are the myths and realities associated with it, and how best to make your choice.

Also, gone are the days when bullet or fire proofing meant a compromise on visual appeal. Now that there is a genre of glass that can provide protection from bullets and even fire, it can be used for aesthetic enhancement and blended in perfectly with the architectural theme, providing the best in aesthetics as well as safety. And no matter what it might cost, it will be a small price to pay for safety.

I’ll sum up by saying that while there is no fool-proof way of protecting oneself from natural or man-made calamities - like the one that happened this day last year, we need to do our bit and adopt every kind of safety measure that is available to us. Luck usually has nothing to do with safety, and besides, why be sorry again when you can be safe instead.