Never use a lift during a fire, you could even put rescuers at risk, say experts

MUMBAI: The news of many of the victims of Saturday's fire tragedy perishing in lifts prompted senior fire officials and experts to issue an advisory to citizens on the dangers of using lifts during fires.

Those who get into a lift during fires put themselves at immense risk, they said. The first precautionary step that building guards and those manning lifts are often asked to take is switching off the power mains. "This prevents the fire from spreading along the electrical circuit and to the rest of the building but those using lifts can get stuck indefinitely and die of suffocation," a retired fire brigade official said.

Besides, some of the modern systems are engineered in such a way that they stop working automatically in case of fire alarms going off. "There is every possibility of the lift breaking down or stopping to work even if power mains are not switched off deliberately," another fire official said.

Those who use lifts in such situations also put at risk the rescuers, say experts. "People getting trapped in lifts are an added worry for rescuers and put them under even more pressure," an official at the spot of Saturday's fire said. "It's best people avoid lifts and either stay put, waiting for rescuers to reach them or use alternate routes like fire escapes," he added.