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Fire Brigade raising army of volunteers as 1st line of defenceVirat A Singh and
Chaitanya Marpakwar mirrorfeedback TWEETS @_MumbaiMirrorFirst batch of 30
people to be trained at the Command Centre - The target is to have 200 citizens
attached to every fire station before year-endThe Fire Brigade is raising a
force of volun teers in the city -its first line of defence before the firemen
reach the spot -in an attempt to gain better control in the first few minutes
of a fire breaking out.In two weeks' time, the Fire Brigade will begin training
30 volunteers at its command centre in basic fire fighting, including switching
off power supply, using a building's inbuilt fire fighting equipment, and
controlling elevators.
These volunteers will be used to recruit people in each housing society and the
target is to have at least 200 volunteers attached to every fire station in the
city.
The Fire Brigade's main concern in fighting fires in high-rises, and presence
of trained volunteers will help it contain a blaze before its specialists reach
the spot. “The 30 volunteers we will train at our command centre will be our
core volunteers.,“ said Chief Fire Officer Prabhat Rahangdale.
In the second phase, the fire brigade will go from housing society to housing
society training volunteers. “We have set a target of training at least 200
volunteers per fire station. Once that is done, we will have a reserve army of
fire fighters,“ Rahangdale added.
On June 6, a major fire broke out on the 14th floor of the 21-storey Lake Homes
Society in Powai. The fire rapidly swept through the 15th and 16th floors.
While seven people were killed, 28 were injured and one of them was reported to
be critical. This prompted the Fire Brigade to come up with the volunteer plan,
officials said. The volunteers will be trained in basic fire fighting,
first-aid and using fire fighting equipment like extinguishers.
Fire officials said that with the growing number of high-rises, the existing
fire brigade strength is not enough to cater to the city effectively. “The
volunteers will give us support. This concept of having professional volunteers
is common in the UK and other European countries,“ said an official.
A 2012 gap analysis survey by the Fire Brigade had revealed requirement of 26
additional fire stations across the city to help plug the delay in response
time. However, due to shortage of land no new stations have been built in the
recent past. At the moment the city has just 33 fire stations with a total
staff of 3000 men.
“The volunteer scheme will give a boost to the fire brigade and add to its fire
fighting abilities,“ said Additional Municipal Commissioner Sanjay Deshmukh,
in-charge of the Fire Brigade.
Joyanto Mukherjee, a resident of Powai's Lake View Housing Society, which was
devastated by a fire recently, said: “It's a good initiative since the Fire
Brigade took some time to reach our building. Had there been volunteers, they
could have shut the elevators and tried to douse the fire using the in-house
fire fighting equipment. Housing societies must cooperate with the Fire Brigade
and come forward to volunteer,“ Mukherjee's father suffered serious burn
injuries in the fire and underwent multiple surgeries. He is still admitted at
the Airoli's National Burns Hospital.
“It is a good move. However, it remains to be seen what kind of response they
get from people. Many societies employ professional people trained in using
fire fighting equipment. This trend should be encouraged,“ said Chetan Sheth
who owns commercial space in Andheri's Lotus Business Park which had caught
fire last year.
