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Human existence depends on the five elements of nature and the body is formed from the combination of these five elements. It is very important to have harmony between these five elements - sky, air, fire, water and earth, otherwise they can also cause problems. The man always has to struggle with nature to maintain his existence and nature responds to the actions of man in its own way, fire has a special importance in these five elements. Fire is one of the earliest discoveries of mankind. It is believed to have been discovered by our ancestor Homo erectus in the early Stone Age. The discovery of fire was a turning point in human evolution. Fire has been an integral part of our daily life since time immemorial. This served as a source of heat for early humans, facilitating their survival in harsh weather conditions, allowing them to settle from tropical and subtropical regions to temperate regions. It also served as a source of light and as an aid to protection from animals in the dark, allowing them to perform nocturnal activities. Some believed that fire initiated a sense of sharing and communal behavior in early humans. Fire was also used for cooking, thereby changing the diet from raw food to cooked. The discovery of fire led to the extraction of metals using the technique of smelting and the manufacture of tools, weapons, and machinery from the extracted metals. This results in a succession from the Stone Age to the Metal Age.

According to Centre of Fire Statistics 2019 report, 81634 persons died due to fire incidents in India during 2014-18. Although the trend of deaths due fire incidents have gone down during 2014-18 but still significant number of deaths are taking place due to fire incidents, which may be avoided with precautionary measures. In recent years, Kota city has also witnessed various fire incidents causing disastrous for human life and properties. The series of fire incidents have arisen the need to understand the fire safety preparedness amongst the residents of Kota City so that the risk of fire related incidents can be minimized and the people and their properties’ may be saved from the disastrous loss due to fire incidents.

The present study is conducted in Kota City to find out the residents awareness about fire safety and their response mechanism to deal with the critical fire situation. The city of Kota is a famous education center in the country for its engineering and medical entrance competitive examination. The city is known by various names such as the Education City of India and the Coaching Capital of India; because it is famous for its thriving coaching culture. It is famous for its IIT JEE preparation as well as medical exam preparation. It is now a hub of educational institutions; many cities do not see such an influx of thousands of students every year and have earned good revenue. It is the third most populous city of Rajasthan, situated on the banks of river Chambal, which is its beauty as well as lifeline, which is the source of water supply to the city and a site of natural beauty. Kota city is also known for Kota Dorian Sarees, Kota Stone and Sand Stone. It is also considered as the second most livable city of Rajasthan after Jaipur and is becoming an industrial hub with many power plants in and around the city. Considering the significance of city, it has seen increasing trend of fire incidents in the busiest coaching areas, scrap market, airport area and industrial areas. Kota has become fire prone jone and incidents are taking place most often. Some of such incidents are as follows;

The series of fire incidents have arisen the need to understand the fire safety preparedness amongst the residents of Kota City so that the risk of fire related incidents can be minimized and the people and their properties’ may be saved from the disastrous loss due to fire incidents. 

Present study is based on exploratory research. As the fire incidents are growing in the city, how far the people are aware and prepared to deal with the fire incidents. This study explores the residents’ preparedness about fire safety. Exploratory Research Exploratory research studies are also called formative research studies. The main objective of such studies is to formulate a problem for more precise investigation or to develop a working hypothesis from an operational point of view. Major emphasis is placed on the discovery of ideas and insights in such studies. Exploratory research design provides an opportunity to consider different aspects of a problem and explore new dimensions of study. In the present study an attempt has been made to collect the facts from the people about their awareness and preparedness to deal with the fire incidents. Geographical Area Present study is related to the fire accidents under Kota city. Therefore, the geographical area of this study is related to Kota City.

Simple random sampling method was used to select the sample respondents. All the sample respondents belong to those geographical areas where fire incidents took place and they were living close to those areas. A total of 100 sample respondents are selected for the purpose of the study.   Since this study is of exploratory in nature, a semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect information for the study.

1.     53 percent sample respondents felt that they had better preparedness to fight the fire incidents at the household level. 22 percent sample respondents said that their family is partially prepared to deal with such incidents whereas 25 percent respondents said they do not have any emergency plan or preparedness to deal with the fire incidents at household level.

2.     When the sample respondents were asked whether their community is well prepared to fight with the fire incidents, 41 percent respondents responded positively whereas 34 percent respondents responded partially prepared. Again 25 percent respondents did not have any clarity over this issue.

3.     All the sample respondents were asked whether they had discussed the course of action at the time of fire incidents within their family members, nearly 50 percent respondents said that they never discussed such topics within their families whereas 17 percent sample respondents said that they had partially discussed.

4.     When the sample respondents were asked whether all of your family members are aware of the emergency numbers 100, 101, 102, 108 etc., 27 percent sample respondents said that their family members are aware of such numbers whereas 73 percent respondents were confident of whether their family members are aware of all of such emergency numbers.

5.     The question related to the availability of First Aid Medical Kit in the household was asked to all respondents, 38 percent sample respondents said that they had a medical kit at home for the emergency situation but 62 percent sample respondents said that they had not kept any such kit at the household.

6.     The question related to use or training of using the first aid medical box was asked to all respondents. Out of all respondents, only 32 percent respondents said that they are aware of completely or partly using the first aid medical box whereas 68 percent respondents said that they do not know about using First Aid Box and had never received any such training. It clearly indicate that a huge proportion of the population still needs training to deal with the fire incidents and using of first aid medical box

7.     The question pertains to the family members’ awareness to switch off the Gas, water, Electricity etc. connections were asked to all respondents. Out of 100 respondents, 38 percent respondents said that their family members are aware of handling such connections. 37 percent respondents said that their family members are incompetent to disconnect / switch off such connections.

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