Pakistan’s hearth security legal guidelines exist; the tragedy lies in systemic failure to implement them
KARACHI:
It was one in all Karachi’s busiest business centres, particularly for wedding ceremony clothes and wholesale items. No extra. Gul Plaza burned to the bottom in a couple of brief hours on the evening of January 17, 2026. It took with it the lives of at the very least 73 individuals. This can be a tragedy that has shaken not simply the individuals of Karachi however all of Pakistan. What makes the disaster particularly heart-rending is that it was solely avoidable.
Gul Plaza has introduced into sharp focus the difficulty of constructing codes in Pakistan, particularly as they relate to fireside security. The very fact is, opposite to what most individuals might imagine, that Pakistan does have a strong hearth security code.
The core doc is entitled Constructing Code of Pakistan – Hearth Security Provisions 2016 (FSP2016). That is Pakistan’s nationwide hearth security code, issued by the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC). It’s legally binding and applies to all new buildings, all present buildings (with phased compliance), and all private and non-private development.
FSP2016 is carefully aligned with the worldwide hearth customary generally known as NFPA 1. That is the Hearth Code revealed by the Nationwide Hearth Safety Affiliation (NFPA) in the US. It’s a complete, globally adopted, built-in hearth security code that brings collectively necessities from greater than 130 different NFPA requirements to create a single, enforceable framework for hearth prevention, constructing security, and hazard administration.
Allow us to have a look at a few of the core necessities coated by Pakistan’s FSP2016. It mandates hearth safety methods comparable to computerized sprinklers, hearth hydrants, hose reels, hearth extinguishers, hearth pumps and water storage, in addition to hearth alarm and detection methods. It requires {that a} technique of exiting the constructing shortly in a fireplace emergency have to be assured. This consists of the quantity and width of exits, journey distances to the closest exit, fire-rated staircases, emergency lighting and signage.
It requires requirements for constructing development comparable to fire-resistant partitions, flooring and doorways, compartmentation, and hearth obstacles round ducts and cables to stop the unfold of fireplace. It mandates particular measures for smoke management, which is how most individuals died within the Gul Plaza tragedy. These measures embrace smoke extraction, stairwell pressurisation to stop the ingress of smoke into these very important escape routes, and computerized shutdown of air-con to stop the system from spreading smoke to different components of the constructing.
Within the case of Gul Plaza, a number of overlapping failures turned the fireplace into one of many deadliest constructing fires in Pakistan’s current historical past. Once you have a look at the sample, it isn’t one single trigger – it’s a cascade of structural, regulatory and operational breakdowns that left individuals with virtually no probability of escape. Allow us to have a look at a few of the primary causes. The constructing was a multi-storey vertical entice. It had slender inner corridors, congested store layouts, restricted air flow and heavy flamable inventory comparable to clothes, plastics and packaging. As soon as the fireplace began, smoke shortly crammed the higher flooring. Most victims died from smoke inhalation, not burns.
Exits have been blocked, locked or inadequate. A number of experiences within the press talked about locked exits and blocked staircases that obstructed escape routes. This was compounded by the absence of useful emergency hearth exits. Blocked exits flip a constructing right into a sealed container. Folks on higher flooring had no viable escape path.
There was no sprinkler system. A functioning sprinkler system would have managed the fireplace early, prevented flashover, saved smoke at survivable ranges and given individuals time to flee. However Gul Plaza, regardless of being a high-risk business constructing, had no computerized sprinklers. This single issue dramatically elevated the demise toll. No working hearth alarm or early warning system was in place. Survivors reported that there was no audible hearth alarm, no evacuation announcement and no coordinated response. Folks on higher flooring solely realised there was a fireplace when smoke reached them, by which era their fates had already been sealed.
There was a transparent violation of the requirement for compartmentation. Gul Plaza had open vertical shafts, unsealed service ducts and no smoke obstacles. This allowed smoke to rise quickly by way of the constructing. Occupants have been trapped earlier than they even knew that their lives have been in peril. This mixture of no alarms, no sprinklers, no smoke management and blocked exits meant the fireplace reached flashover situations shortly. Folks on higher flooring have been overcome by smoke inside minutes. It ought to be clear by now that the Gul Plaza tragedy was not due to shortcomings in Pakistan’s hearth code. Somewhat, it needed to do with critical, and presumably prison, lapses within the enforcement of the code.
So who enforces the code? The legislation states that enforcement “shall vest with the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ)” inside its respective space. In Karachi, this authority vests with the Sindh Constructing Management Authority (SBCA), an company of the Sindh authorities. Therefore, it’s the SBCA that bears the brunt of explaining why it did not implement the code, resulting in this tragedy.
However it’s helpful to know that the ecosystem of corruption in Pakistan signifies that the SBCA is probably not solely responsible. Contemplate {that a} poorly paid SBCA hearth inspector exhibits up at a property comparable to Gul Plaza and insists that it comply or face closure. The seths who personal and occupy the property realise that compliance will come at a considerable value. So the poorly paid inspector is handed a sealed envelope. He overlooks the violations. He’s blissful. And the seths are blissful. Till at some point their shortsightedness catches up with them in a catastrophic method.
“Systemic” is a a lot hackneyed time period today. But within the context of Gul Plaza, it captures exactly the failures that led to this catastrophe. Everyone seems to be accountable to a level – the SBCA, the Sindh authorities, the house owners of Gul Plaza and even the hapless tenants of its outlets, who did not insist that the constructing adjust to the fireplace code and who paid with their lives and wealth for this solely avoidable tragedy.
The lesson right here is that fireside security isn’t an extravagant indulgence. It’s a matter of life and demise. There must not ever be one other Gul Plaza.
THE WRITER IS AN MIT TRAINED CIVIL ENGINEER AND CHAIRMAN OF MUSTAQBIL PAKISTAN. HE HOLDS AN MBA FROM HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL
