KOZHIKODE: In Kozhikode city, where furies related to monsoon are frequent, the question arises as to whether the Fire and Rescue Services Department is equipped to carry out rescue operations in emergency situations. It has come to light that the city’s Fire and Rescue Services units are facing acute staff crunch and are not equipped to handle major fire or rain-related furies. Adding to the woes, the fire tenders and vehicles used by the department are very old and lack modern technology.
Along with manpower, the department is short of firefighters. There is a shortage of drivers also. Besides, there is dearth of breathing apparatus proportionate to the number of staff in all stations. According to the staff, protection of firemen is not a concern for anybody, even the government.
There are three fire stations in the city - at the beach, Meenchanda and Vellimadukunnu. The Meenchanda station is a major one, where 20 posts of firemen are lying vacant. There is also shortage of drivers and not more than one vehicle at a time can be operated for fire-fighting or other rescue operations from the fire station.
“Currently, 20 posts are lying vacant at the station. The department requires more than 30 posts in the station. We are carrying out services with the assistance of 10 home guards appointed recently,” an official with the Meenchanda unit says. There is also shortage of firefighters who supervise the rescue operations. The situation is not different at the beach unit, where out of the 35 posts, 15 have been remaining vacant for years. Besides, the condition of the vehicles operated by the Fire and Rescue Services is pathetic. While the Fire and Rescue Services Departments in other states use very advanced vehicles imported from European countries, the department here makes do with old vehicles sans even power steering. A crash tender under the Meenchanda unit and a mini water tender of the beach unit have become dysfunctional.
An official with the beach unit says that the emergency service requires water dousers which have a capacity of 12,000 litres of water, for service in the city. The department purchases low quality equipment from firms which quote low rates and this affects the efficiency of service many times. The batteries used in the vehicles are of low quality.
Hence, in many cases, the officials fail to start the vehicles when they receive emergency calls, the officials say. To carry out rescue operations in high-rises, the firefighters lack skylifts. Officials, however, say that the department in Kozhikode is likely to get one soon.
Arun Bhaskar, Divisional Officer, Fire and Rescue Services, Kozhikode, says that many staff were from Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts and they were relocated to their native places as per their requests. Hence many posts are lying vacant in northern districts. He adds that the department has bought 60 chases of fire tenders and the city will get one each for the units.
“Besides, chain saws, lights and other equipment have been supplied to the units to handle emergency situations,” adds Arun Bhaskar.