KOLKATA: A day after a fire broke out in a new apartment where interior work was underway, the developer of the upscale project off Alipore and the facility management firm have jointly issued safety guidelines to owners in a bid to prevent a repeat of Wednesday's incident.A fire had started in an 8th floor flat in Cloud 9, a project comprising 108 apartments in two blocks, that was completed only months ago. Workers engaged by the owner of flat 8A to do the interiors had left for the day when the fire was spotted. Police suspect a smouldering butt of a cigarette or biri smoked by a worker may have ignited the fire. They also don't rule out the possibility of a short circuit from a work implement kept plugged to the power outlet that workers may have forgotten to switch off."We are telling all flat owners to ensure that while interiors or any other work is being done, it should be supervised by someone responsible. Also, if any worker wants to smoke, he should step out of the complex, have a smoke and then return to work. Furthermore, we are asking everyone to switch off the main power line to the apartment when workers leave for the day," project lead developer Raj Patodia said.Timely intervention by maintenance staff who put to use the in-built fire fighting equipment prevented the fire from spreading.Patodia's team has also chalked out a comprehensive guideline for residents to raise awareness and prevent any mishap. The guidelines dwell on electrical connections, wiring, switches, plugs, circuit breakers as well as building evacuation plans, assembly area, fire alarm systems and fire extinguishers.

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