Fort Kochi’s heritage zone will undergo a fire safety audit after the blaze at the historic Koder House, with the fire force department also planning a permanent ring main water pipeline network to protect buildings that are difficult for fire engines to reach.
The audit is expected to begin on Monday and will cover the heritage area’s numerous buildings dating to the Dutch, Portuguese and British periods. Fire officials and residents have raised concerns that many of these structures contain heavy wooden interiors, stand close to one another and lack space for installing individual fire-extinguishing systems.
A senior fire force official said the proposed ring main system would function as a closed-loop network connected to a high-capacity water storage tank and pump house. The system would include pipelines, hoses, sprinklers and hydrants, allowing residents and emergency personnel to draw water locally while tackling a fire.
The official said a common firefighting network was necessary because fire engines travelling from the city could face difficulty reaching parts of Fort Kochi. Several heritage buildings are located along narrow byroads where large emergency vehicles have limited access. A permanent water-based system would therefore provide an additional response mechanism within the heritage zone.
The proposal is not new. According to the fire force official, a plan for firefighting infrastructure had emerged during beautification works undertaken by Cochin Smart Mission Ltd in Fort Kochi, but it did not materialise. The department had also prepared and submitted a fire audit report covering the heritage zones of Fort Kochi and Mattancherry to the Kochi corporation earlier, but the report did not lead to action, the official said.
Residents recalled that Fort Kochi had water tanks used for firefighting in the past. C E Walton, a 70-year-old resident, said tanks about six feet high had existed at several locations, but their functioning stopped after a fire force training camp was established on Santa Cruz Road. Some of the tanks remain in the area, he said.
Former Kochi corporation mayor K J Sohan said there had been around 25 such storage tanks, with five to eight still standing but unused. He also pointed to an old fire hydrant in Amaravati. Sohan said the narrow roads and the concentration of heritage buildings made access difficult during emergencies, adding that the fire force was not prepared to handle the Koder House blaze.
The proposed audit is intended to identify the fire risks and access constraints across the zone before decisions are taken on permanent protection infrastructure. Fire safety measures in the area will need to account for the conservation requirements of old buildings as well as the operational needs of emergency services.
Kochi MLA Mohammad Shiyas said he had asked the local body to conduct a fire audit in the heritage zone after the Koder House fire. The fire force department’s audit and its proposal for a ring main system are the next steps identified in the response.
