Rawalpindi : The Civil Defense Department Rawalpindi served notices on 1,200 building owners and imposed fines exceeding Rs2.5 million over non-compliance with fire safety regulations during 2025.
District Civil Defence Officer Chaudhry Ghulam Mustafa said the department had intensified monitoring, legal action and training programmes to ensure the installation of fire safety equipment and the protection of human lives.
He said 911 challans were issued during the year to commercial and industrial premises found without complete fire safety arrangements.
The objective of these measures, he added, was to make fire safety systems functional in commercial and industrial buildings.
He said the department conducted 103 fire safety training sessions in industrial and commercial institutions in 2025, providing hands-on firefighting training to more than 3,500 participants.
After the Karachi inferno tragedy, the shadow of terrible accidents began to loom over the commercial buildings and plazas of Rawalpindi due to the lack of fire safety equipment and other safety measures.
According to reports, out of a total of 163 large commercial buildings in the city, only one building has complete safety equipment. Of these buildings with a height of 50 feet or more, 4 are in category B, 7 in category C, and 151 buildings are in category D, of which 4 commercial buildings do not have an automatic fire extinguishing system and no smoke exhaust system at all, while 7 commercial buildings do not have an entrance, automatic fire extinguishing system, and smoke exhaust system.
Similarly, 151 buildings do not have safety equipment, emergency exits, smoke exhaust, or automatic systems.
According to the report, there were 1,712 incidents of fire in buildings in 2025, and 4 people died, 44 were seriously injured, and 63 were slightly injured in these fire incidents.
Under the Community Safety Act 2022, NOC was made mandatory by the Rescue 1122 for fire safety and emergency evacuation and other related matters. According to sources, the unavailability of fire safety equipment is a violation of the Punjab Building Safety Regulations. NOCs are issued by the TMA for the construction of commercial buildings. Rescue Rawalpindi monitors emergency routes and fire safety.
While the notices are issued to the owners of commercial buildings for the lack of fire safety mechanisms, but no further action is taken in this regard. When contacted, rescue sources said that we have issued notices to all such buildings in which there are no measures for fire safety. Some of them have been issued once and some buildings have also been issued a third and final notice.
After which the district administration is allowed to seal the buildings. Regarding the NOC of dozens of commercial buildings under construction in the city, Rescue sources said that it is not known how many files we have pending and how many files have been objected to.
Meanwhile, Municipal Corporation Chief Officer Imran Ali said that checking the availability of fire safety equipment and fire safety mechanisms in buildings falls under the jurisdiction of Rescue 1122.
The availability and supervision of emergency routes in buildings is carried out by Civil Defense, while the Municipal Corporation Rawalpindi only obtains NOC from Rescue 1122 regarding the suitability of firefighting equipment in the building before approving commercial maps. It should be remembered that earlier, several people, including firefighters, died due to a terrible fire in Gakhar Plaza in Rawalpindi.
