- India's fire safety rules are robust but enforcement weakens post-approval, causing risks
- Fire staircases and evacuation routes often altered during construction, reducing safety
- Modern building materials trap heat and smoke, increasing fire intensity and rescue difficulty
As Indian cities grow taller and denser, a troubling pattern is emerging. Recent fires in homes, hotels and commercial buildings have exposed critical gaps between fire safety rules and their implementation on the ground. To understand why safety systems continue to fail despite stringent regulations, NDTV spoke to architects Vineeta Singhania, Founding Partner and Principal Architect at Confluence, and Anand Sharma, Founding Partner at Design Forum International (DFI). They point to a mix of weak enforcement, changing building designs, rising power loads and urban planning challenges.
When safety exists only on paper
Both experts stress that India's primary fire safety framework, the National Building Code (NBC), is already robust. The problem is not a lack of rules but a failure to enforce them after approvals are granted.
"The gap often begins the moment the Fire NOC (No Objection Certificate) is issued," Singhania told NDTV.
According to her, compliance tends to weaken once permissions are secured. Fire staircases, smoke shafts and evacuation routes shown in approved plans are often altered during construction, sometimes converted into storage spaces or additional usable area.
The consequences can be deadly.
Singhania cited the fire at a bed-and-breakfast in Delhi's Malviya Nagar. Licensed for six rooms, the property was allegedly operating 25 rooms. Blocked exits and poor ventilation left occupants with little chance of escape. Twenty-three people died in the blaze.
Sharma said enforcement remains fragmented, with little coordination between approvals, inspections and long-term maintenance.
"The solution lies in intelligent system interlinkage. We have the technology, the AI and the data; we simply lack the administrative will to connect the dots," he said.
Urban planning choices that maximise space often create challenges during emergencies.
Photo Credit: Pexels
The cost of modern aesthetics
Modern buildings increasingly feature floor-to-ceiling glass, expansive false ceilings and extensive wood panelling. While these elements enhance appearance, they can also increase a building's fire load - the amount of heat generated when combustible materials burn.
Architectural glass, particularly toughened and laminated variants, is designed to withstand high temperatures. During a fire, however, that can become a drawback. Instead of allowing heat to escape, it can trap heat inside until conditions reach flashover - the stage when nearly everything combustible in a room ignites at once.
Fixed glass facades pose another challenge. Because they cannot be opened, smoke remains trapped indoors and firefighters have fewer access points during rescue operations.
"We cannot turn back the clock to an era of low-combustible vernacular materials or traditional courtyard layouts," Sharma said.
"The climate is getting hotter and the urban population is growing more affluent. The issue isn't contemporary design itself. It's whether we fully understand how these materials behave under extreme heat and smoke conditions."
When fire engines can't reach
Urban planning choices that maximise space often create challenges during emergencies.
Many residential complexes rely on stilt parking, narrow entrances and densely packed layouts. Ground floors are frequently occupied by shops such as pharmacies, salons and grocery stores that may house LPG cylinders, inverters and heavy electrical equipment.
The result is a built environment that works efficiently in everyday life but can hinder emergency response.
Large fire tenders often struggle to enter congested neighbourhoods or manoeuvre around tightly packed buildings.
"We must adapt the infrastructure to the city, not just the city to the infrastructure," Sharma said, advocating smaller and more localised emergency response units.
Singhania agreed.
"As cities become denser, planning evacuation routes must be given the same priority as planning for density itself," she said.
The threat from air conditioners
Another concern is the sharp rise in electricity demand.
Buildings constructed years ago are now expected to support multiple inverter ACs, induction cooktops, geysers and electric vehicle chargers - loads they were never designed to handle.
The number of air conditioners in India is projected to rise from 93 million in 2024 to 240 million by 2030, with many drawing power from ageing electrical systems.
During peak summer months, overloaded circuits can overheat, increasing the risk of electrical fires. The danger grows when electrical systems are poorly separated from architectural and mechanical infrastructure.
"The need today is not only for stronger systems, but for continuous monitoring of electrical loads as part of daily building operations," Sharma said. "Risks must be identified before a failure occurs."
Why fires spread so quickly between floors
Recent fires have also highlighted the difficulty of controlling blazes on higher floors.
Singhania said modern buildings require dedicated, fire-insulated electrical shafts designed to contain a fire within a limited area.
In theory, these shafts prevent flames and smoke from spreading between floors. In practice, many are left hollow and packed with loose cable bundles.
"When that happens, the shaft effectively becomes a chimney," she explained.
Instead of containing a fire, it can accelerate the movement of flames and toxic smoke through the building, making evacuation and firefighting significantly harder.
For both architects, the lesson is clear: India's fire safety challenge is not rooted in a lack of regulations. The real issue lies in enforcement, maintenance and adapting urban design to the realities of denser cities, rising electricity demand and increasingly complex buildings.
