Two recent fire incidents — one at a Cuffe Parade residential building which claimed the lives of two domestic servants, and another, at Sum Hospital in Bhubaneswar — have squarely brought the focus to our lack of awareness of fire safety norms.

Despite all the lives lost and all the damage caused by fire in our country, our attitude continues to be, ‘Let’s leave it to destiny’ or even ‘We will tackle a crisis when it happens.’