BMC's Brahmastra for Faster and Safer Evacuation in High-Rise Buildings

by Priya Jadhav

Mumbai, 6th July 2023: In a major development, BMC has made it mandatory to install Fire Evacuation Lifts in high-rise buildings. In case of a fire, a normal elevator cannot be used, an evacuation elevator can evacuate 12-15 people in 3 minutes. This lift can be a lifesaver for firemen and citizens.

A fire brigade official said that Mumbai now requires the installation of fire evacuation lifts in buildings of height 70 meters and above. Buildings that do not install these lifts will not get NOC from the fire brigade. The Maharashtra Energy Department issued a circular in this regard last year, but now the municipality is going to strictly implement it in their respective regions. A fire evacuation lift is a special lift. It is designed as per the Fire Lift standards and is to be fire resistant for at least 2 hours.

According to the official, a few minutes of awareness and rescue is crucial in case of fire. In such a situation, a fire evacuation lift will be very important. A vision panel sensor is installed in the lift. In this, the number of the fire brigade, police, society president, and members will be given. This lift will send an alert to all people as soon as there is a fire. This will alert people and help rescue operations can be started soon. Also, people will be able to get out of the building during the fire by themselves.

Equipped with modern technology, this lift can be very useful in case of fire in the building. In the event of a fire, the fire brigade first cuts off the electricity to the building. This shuts down the normal elevator, but the elevator can also be powered by a generator during that time. If there is no generator, there is a battery for backup, which can perform rescue work for half an hour.

Through the vision panel, one can see down where the fire has started. It also has a two-way system. A person sitting in an elevator can initiate a rescue operation by contacting the person sitting below. Not only this, there is also a trap door at the top in case someone gets stuck in the elevator. The person can be easily taken out by opening the trap door. These elevators will not contain fire or smoke, so no one will suffer during a rescue in case of fire. The price of these lifts ranges from INR 50 lakh to INR 1 crore.