As fires surge, dept struggles with infra blues

Ludhiana: With the rise in temperature, number of fire incidents has witnessed a surge in the city and outskirts in the past few weeks. And as always, the fire brigade despite its best efforts is finding it tough to handle the situation due to lack of infrastructure and manpower.
Due to presence of industrial units, the number of fires being reported from city is more as compared to other cities of the state. However, the fire brigade department, even after so many claims and promises by successive governments, is still struggling to match the requirement of the city as per the fire norms.
Even after the death of nine firemen in the fire and building collapse incident at Suffian Chowk in 2017, the department has seen no upgradation. Though the firemen were promised fire proof suits, the situation is exactly opposite as they lack even uniforms. For the over past five years, some of them have not got the uniform and those who have it is too old to be used. They have spent from their own pocket to get it stitched.
Going by the norms, there should be one fire tender for every 50,000 persons. The district, which has a population of more than 30 lakh, requires at least 60 fire tenders. But in actual, the fire department has 17 fire tenders in working condition while seven are lying defunct. The fire department does not have hydraulic ladder for accessing high rise buildings or controlling the situation from outside.
Requesting anonymity, a fire official said that they had been hearing about the upgradation of the department and the hopes were very high after the establishment of separate fire directorate, but not even single improvement has taken place.
He said during summers, they work for more than 12 hours and do not get overtime for the same. He said as per the norms, they are supposed to do 8-hour duty, but they don’t remember if they have gone after 8 hours of duty ever.
MC commissioner K P Brar said, “After the formation of separate fire directorate, the Ludhiana municipal corporation is only taking care of routine jobs of fire brigade and salary of the employees. And as far as its upgradation is concerned, it is with the fire directorate.”
She said more fire tenders or appointment of staff will be done at the level of fire director or local bodies department.
Bikes gathering dust since 2012
The fire brigade branch had been given two bikes in 2012 to access narrow lanes for speedy help, but these bikes haven’t been used even once. The fire officials claimed that there is no provision to re-fill the foam and other required substances in these bikes in the district. There was only one machine in Mohali and that too is defunct now. So when they could not refill foam in the bikes, these cannot be used during fire incidents, officials said.
107 fire calls in April, May
The fire brigade department has received as many as 107 fire calls in April and May. A total of 90 fire incidents in April and 17 in May have been reported till date. Only in past two days, more than dozen fire incidents have taken place out of which a few were quite major fires.
Box: Total strength
Name of post Sanctioned strength Filled posts vacant
Assistant divisional fire officer 01 01 0
Fire station officer 04 01 03
Sub fire officer 15 04 11
Leading fireman 18 07 11
Firemen (permanent) 86 21 65
Drivers (permanent) 19 03 16
Firemen (outsourced) ------------ 40 ------
Drivers (outsourced) ---------- 12 ------
Box: Requirements for the fire brigade upgradation
Description of machinery Quantity
Water tenders 25
Water Bouzers 11
Foam tenders 05
Advanced Rescue Vans 04
Hazamat Van 02
High Pressure Pumps 10
Water missed on Jeep 08
Water Missed on Motor Bikes 14
Turn Table ladder 02
Portable Pumps 10
Aerial ladder platforms 03
Light tower inflatable light mast 15
Generators 16
Jeeps 15
Mini Fire Tenders 15
Motor Cycles 16
Hydraulic Spreader 12
Hydraulic cutters 12
RRL Hose Pipes 15000 Mtrs
Fire Proof Suits (imported) 24
Breathing Operatus Sets 24
New Fire Brigade Buildings 08
Ambulances & First Aid equipment 06