CM nod for 3 more fire stations in city

Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday approved a proposal for establishment of three new fire stations in Bhubaneswar. The proposed fire stations will come up at Mancheswar, Tamando and Pahal.
“Considering the city’s growth in terms of its size and boundaries as well as the population, the chief minister has decided to strengthen the fire service wing for protection of people and property. Fifteen personnel will be appointed in the three new fire stations each. Each fire station will have one station officer, two leading firemen, a driver havildar, a fireman driver and 10 firemen,” a statement from the chief minister’s office read.
Currently, six fire stations exist in Bhubaneswar — one each at Kalpana, Chandrasekharpur and secretariat campus (all inside the city) and the other three stations are in the outskirts of the city at Balianta, Balipatna and Jatani.
“We had sent a proposal to the government to open fire stations in Mancheswar and Tamando, which are industrial areas. Pahal, with its rapidly growing population, also needs a fire station,” an official of the state fire and emergency service said, adding, “The new stations in Tamando and Pahal will also help in quickly responding to serious accidents on the national highway.”
Following the catastrophic super cyclone in the state in 1999 that killed over 10,000 people in the state, the government had made disaster management skills an integral part of the fire service training programme.
The personnel of the Odisha fire service were sent to different states, including Andhra Pradesh, to carry out rescue operations during Hudhud cyclone in October 2014, Kerala flash floods in August 2018 and deployed at a coal mine in Meghalaya to rescue trapped labourers in December 2018, sources said.