Inferior, old vehicles plaguing firefighting operations

Vadodara: Fire and Emergency Services in Vadodara has enough vehicles to meet emergency calls in the city, but the problem of age-old vehicles and frequent breakdown of new ones often plague rescue operations.
Six fire stations of Vadodara Municipal Corporation and emergency response centre of Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority have 93 vehicles in all. These 93 vehicles, include 25 water tenders, five foam tenders and two special tenders. The number of water tenders is already higher than the city’s requirement. As per the 2012 guidelines of National Disaster Management Authority, Vadodara should have 21 water tenders.
The problem is thus not of quantity, but of quality. Of the 93 vehicles, 14 vehicles, including water tenders and a snorkel are as old as 15 to 32 years. The snorkel, which rises up to 30 metre, is the oldest vehicle as it was registered in October 1987. TOI had earlier reported that the snorkel is lying useless at Vadiwadi fire station as it had not undergone maintenance since two years. Other vehicles, which are old include a water tender, emergency tender and water tankers.
To add to its capacity, 12 advanced water tenders were procured in January last year from a contractor in Ahmedabad. However, due to their inferior quality or for some other reasons, these water tenders often breakdown for which they have to be sent all the way to Ahmedabad every now and then. “Even if a minor repairing work has to be done, the water tenders have to be sent to Ahmedabad and the vehicles are not at our disposal for days which not only wastes time but also fuel,” said a fire official.
In 2017, the department had planned to procure another snorkel, which can rise up to 90 metre but due to issues in tendering process, the plan was dropped. “We are going to issue tenders again for the snorkel but it will take some time,” said another official.
NO SAFETY OF SAFETY EQUIPMENT
If an incident like the one in Surat takes place in Vadodara, firemen in city will be left helpless. While the hydraulic access platforms will take their own time to reach the spot of emergency, the firemen will be out beating the bush for a jumping net. Department sources said a jumping net was procured some years back and kept at Dandiya Bazaar fire station but nobody knows about its condition. A week back municipal commissioner Ajay Bhadoo had met fire officials to take stock of the situation of fire department. He had then instructed the fire officials to procure safety jumping cushions and other equipment. However, the procurement will take its own time.