With the mercury levels soaring, increasing the possibility of fire-related incidents, a blaze that gutted the shelter room of a cell phone tower in Jayaram Nagar, Nerkundram, raises questions about the safety of hundreds of the tall steel structures dotting the city’s skyline. Of prime concern is the fact that there appears to be neither any regulations for installation of the towers in both residential and commercial buildings nor a monitoring mechanism at present.
Due to the incredible proliferation of mobile phones and wireless communication devices, there are more than 1,500 cell phone towers in Chennai. Police sources said around 1,300 of them have been constructed by leading player Indus Towers and 250 by American Tower. For safety and maintenance, the cell phone towers are let out to private companies like Powerlink and Mahendra.
The fire that broke out in the shelter room of a 21-metre high tower atop a residential building in Nerkundram, located under Koyambedu police limits, on May 5 is suspected to have been caused by an electrical short-circuit. The tower, installed by Indus and used by leading mobile phone operators Airtel and Idea, is being maintained by Powerlink.
According to S Subhash, who works as technician in the company, the entire Koyambedu area experiences low voltage problems, causing frequent fluctuations in the power link to the tower. “This results in short-circuit, especially during summer,” he pointed out. “The shelter room, which has a lot of equipment, is already heated and a spark can easily trigger a fire,” he said.
Hence, by the time the house owner noticed the smoke and flames billowing out of the shelter room around 2.20 am and alerted the company and a patrol police party called the fire services, the stabilizer, power plant, rectifier and battery bank inside the unit was totally gutted. Had the flying sparks landed on the nearby residential houses, the losses would have been greater, said a senior police official.
In fact, all safety parameters appear to have been in place at the cell phone tower, said investigating officer Muthukumar. “But we have sought the safety manual from the company for further investigation,” he added.
The towers have an automated alarm system in the event of a fire, regular power cuts or any unauthorised entry into the shelter rooms, sources said. A fire alarm goes to the main company, which relays it to the maintenance firm and technicians like Subhash, who are assigned to an average of 20 towers, receive an SMS text on their mobile phones and rush to the spot. “I asked the house owner to pull out the fuse first,” Subhash said.
Unlike high-rise buildings and other structures, which require a no-objection certificate from the fire and rescue services department for CMDA approval, there is no such protocol for installation of cell phone towers. “It is an agreement between the building owner and the company, say for 10-15 years,” the sources said.
For fire service officials, their safety concerns revolve around the residential buildings, particularly slums, located near the towers. “Whenever I received information that cell phone towers were going to be installed under my jurisdiction, I voluntarily used to visit the site and offer my suggestions,” recalled a retired senior fire official.
Echoing him, Divisional Fire Officer (south zone) Saravanakumar said the department only conducted a cursory inspection of the ground room to check whether there were fire extinguishers and fencing.
The retired officer suggested 24 hours manual supervision of the cell phone towers to prevent such incidents. The companies should also install automated fire detection and suppression systems.
Added Assistant Commissioner of Police (Koyambedu) S Senthil Kumaran: “While we cannot rewind technology, the cell phone towers should have all safety parameters in place.”
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