TNFRS trying to improve reaction time
CHENNAI
Launching - Thee (Fire in Tamil) - a mobile application, the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) department has started conducting regular drills across the State to improve reaction time of its personnel.
One such drill was conducted on Friday and the SM Nagar station in North Chennai won the event.
In 2020, the TNFRS helpline 101 received a total of 5,000 calls in Chennai and out of this 2,150 were fire calls and the remaining were rescue calls. Now people have to download the ‘Thee’ app and press the help button in it. The control room will get an alert in a few seconds and based on the GPS location of the caller, the nearest fire station will be alerted.
“This will save a lot of time as the personnel will not have to ask them address, route etc. We will just ask them the nature of the call and then send the team with respective equipment. More than 5,000 people have downloaded the app till date,” said Priya Ravichandran, joint director, TNFRS, Northern Region.
Since the team will have to reach the spot quickly, the TNFRS has started conducting drills to improve reaction time. “Once we get a fire alert, an electronic bell in the respective fire station will ring. Soon after this the team in the fire station has to get ready wearing their tunic, helmet and other protective gear and board the fire tender and the vehicle has to move. As of now the minimum time for this is one minute,” said a senior TNFRS official.
“The team that does this in the least amount of time will be the winner. All the 346 stations participated in this. The crew from SM Nagar fire station, headed by fire officers Venkatesh, completed this in 53 seconds. They were given certificates and medals,” Ms. Priya said.