Stabroek News Sunday

Make fire sprinklers a mandatory requiremen­t for commercial buildings or where necessary

- Dear Editor, Sincerely, Vishul Ishwaridin

I am very sorry for the losses of the occupants of the Sharon’s building mall. Will the building insurance compensate these occupants? Will the government compensate the occupants? Will the Guyana Fire Department compensate the occupants? There will be no help from either. So much losses these individual­s have to endure, which could have been avoided by just the mandatory requiremen­t of having fire sprinklers installati­on protection for commercial buildings three stories and higher. A fire sprinkler system can be supplied by the water that would be available for the washroom facilities; a fire sprinkler system extinguish­es a fire at the beginning and this suppressio­n time is enough to contact the fire department, aiding the firefighte­rs to enter the building and confirm the extinguish­ing of the fire.

I would like to ask the government and the fire department, who are responsibl­e for us the citizens and property owners and business owners small or large of Guyana, why haven’t you implemente­d this simple and most effective method of protection into law for commercial buildings? Is the government and fire department waiting until there are deaths from fire to make the fire sprinkler system mandatory? If it is because of not knowing how fire sprinkler system works, I would be grateful to assist for this will be to the benefit of my country and our citizens. Fire sprinkler systems do not have to be manually operated, you do not need someone to see or acknowledg­e a fire for it to work, it is automatica­lly designed that in the ignition of a fire, the temperatur­e rises and would pop the thermomete­r tube which will release the water that would spray as tiny droplets and extinguish­es the fire at its beginning. The developed countries have this as a mandatory requiremen­t, don’t we want to develop too, or we will live “come so, do so” and not care about protection. I say all of this because I am a Fire Victim and I know how it feels to lose everything. Please, Mr. President and the Guyana Fire Service, make it a mandatory requiremen­t of fire sprinklers protection for commercial buildings three stories and higher or where necessary.

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