Drones are to be used to scan for fire safety issues on buildings in Chennai , the capital city of Tamil Nadu in East India, by the Special Task Force, according to a report from The New Indian Express.

The Task Force, established over three years ago to target illegal buildings across the city, will use drones to review 149 buildings which are under scanner for violation of fire safety norms.

A consultant is to be hired by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) member secretary, after which inspection will be carried out, a CMDA official said.

This follows a separate study on fire safety measures with an alternate mechanism in congested areas including George Town, Purasawalkam, Tripplicane and T Nagar.

“Once the order is passed this week, we are likely to take it up the coming week. We wanted to have scientific data on these buildings. Doing it manually will take time,” said the official.

Fire consultant V Sivaramakrishnan said, however, that drones cannot find out whether the sprinklers are working or are they connected to the water pump, and so this will have to be done manually.

According to a survey of 150 T Nagar multi-storeyed buildings carried out by the State Fire and Rescue Services Department, it was found that in most buildings, water storage and provision of fire pump facilities and hydrant systems are not as per requirements of National Building Code. Most buildings also were also found to have no automatic sprinkler system.