On the night of May 17, an intense fire erupted in Kohat Grid Station of Peshawar Electricity Supply Company (PESCO), which burnt it to ashes.

One power transformer was completely destroyed and the adjacent one was severely damaged along with associated cables and installations.

Consequently, cities of Kohat and Hangu as well as the surrounding areas were plunged into darkness for many hours. The profusely dense blaze and flames were visible from miles away. Fire brigade reached on site and started controlling the fire; fortunately it was mainly quenched by heavy rainfall.

As a matter of fact, fire is always an effect of some deliberate cause. If the possibilities of such a cause are reduced through adoption of proper preventive techniques, there will be obviously no effect.

However, it appears that no fire prevention measures exist in Kohat to nip the evil in the bud. In the first instance, cause of this huge fire could be attributed to excessive heating of the transformers because of their abnormal overloading.

The cooling system of transformers could be either non-functional or ineffective due to many reasons including lack of maintenance or gross overlooking of the operational staff.

Nevertheless, the real cause could be ascertained through an impartial enquiry of the accident, which must be conducted by PESCO or PEPCO to fix the responsibility of the huge loss as a result of this fire, which has to be ultimately sustained by tax-payers of the country for no fault of theirs.

Furthermore, being an ex-employee of PEPCO, I can safely predict that the grid station could be devoid of proper fire fighting apparatus, which includes installation of firstly, water sprinklers around the transformers, circuit breakers and all major electrical equipment and secondly, automatic as well as manual fire extinguishers at appropriate points in the station yard.

These devices are initiated through an automatic fire detection and alarm system, which senses even a minor inception of fire and becomes functional in no time. Thus the fire is controlled at an initial stage and its ill effects are aptly reduced to bare minimum.

In fact, all of PEPCO grid stations seldom have adequate fire prevention system, which could drastically eliminate potential fire hazards. And if it is luckily installed anywhere then it is hardly maintained by PEPCO staff, thus making it inoperable. PEPCO grid operation and maintenance staff does not possess essential know how of the latest fire safety procedures and ways to tackle any fire incident.

During 2010, I visited some grid stations under Gujranwala Power Company (GEPCO) and specifically noted gross negligence of concerned staff in proper maintenance of grid stations as a whole. Yards of many of these grid stations were having heaps of dried grass and wooden planks, which were quite susceptible to fire. I saw some oil drums near the live electrical installations, which was a serious safety hazard but remained unnoticed by all concerned. Some of these grid stations were having manual fire extinguishers, but these were least attended and never filled after expiry. No fire drill was ever conducted therein due to which the staff on duty was unable to operate them in case of any impending emergency.

This sad situation seems to be prevalent everywhere in PEPCO. That’s why we are witnessing accidents like that of Kohat. PEPCO management needs to install latest loss prevention gadgets in all of its critical facilities as well as cultivate a culture of safety perception and awareness in its staff.

M. HAFEEZUR RAHMAN Jubail, KSA