• Fire services in the State are expected to undergo modernisation under the five-year KSAFE (Karnataka Safe) project, which will include an upgrade and extension in services.
• It emphasis will be on quality, skill upgradation and capacity building of fire services in the State over five years.

Has the city become safer?

• “As far as the legally authorised high-rises are concerned, Bengaluru’s record is good in terms of compliance. But there are also a large number of high-rises, which are not authorised as high-rises, which is a grey area. Also areas of concern are critical occupancy buildings, such as schools, auditoriums and hospitals,”
• Last year, a five-year fire safety blueprint for Bengaluru — said to be the first for a city in the country — was brought out in consultation with the Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services Department.
• The blueprint has drawn a five-year roadmap from 2018 to 2022, and its key recommendations include introducing a retrofit policy for older buildings, linking property tax payment and fire No Objection Certificates, introducing a Public Private Partnership policy for private agencies to partner for new fire stations and monitoring, making burns wards compulsory in well-equipped hospitals, and developing protocols for inter-agency coordination.