From leaping into harm’s way to save precious lives, responding to a situation at the crack of dawn or the dead of night to being alert and awake to threats 24x7 — their job is scarcely different from those in the armed forces. Their training schedules and sessions, too, are demanding and unforgiving as those of our uniformed personnel in the Army, police and para forces.
Yet, the city’s firemen willingly risk it all for scant reward and appreciation for their efforts. Ask them why they chose to be in this profession, they will give you a host of reasons, which may seem reckless or naïve at first. But on close and careful reflection, one would grow to appreciate and the noble intent behind the drive to put themselves in the thick of action every time a fire breaks out in the city.
Fire recruits
Recruited last year by Delhi Fire Services (DFS), 500 intrepid men underwent a rigorous training programme over six months, during which they were given lessons on ways to deal with any kind of emergency as a team. From scaling high-rises to crawling through underground tunnels, they learned to save lives from the throes of danger. Public service is at the heart of what they do for a living and there have been numerous instances where they cared not two hoots about risking their own lives in the larger interest of taking people, trapped in fires, to safety.
They said their families spend anxious moments while they are out dousing flames, but that doesn’t keep them from rushing to scenes of fires. And, the worries over the safety of kin, mount, especially in a city where blazes have almost become an everyday affair. Kaushal Kishore, 39, the training-in-charge of the 500 DFS recruits, said that an essential part of the training module was a drill on self-contained breathing apparatus. Kishore, who has 19 years of experience in fire training, said that the recruits were trained like armed services personnel, with a special focus of fitness.
Demanding drills
The fire trainer said that a majority of the recruits were put through a rigorous weight management programme, during which the training institute kept track of the weight lost on a weekly basis.
He said in keeping with the training lessons imparted in previous years, the recruits were put through ladder drills, fire hydrant drills and pump drills. “During ladder drills, the recruits are taught how to scale high-rises in the event of a fire, pull those trapped into hydraulic lifts and bring them to safety. However, the things introduced this time were squad drills, front rolls and back rolls,” Kishore said.
The equipment used in the training drills were almost the same as the ones put into practice in the previous years, the trainer further said.
Tunnel training
“Earlier, an oxygen cylinder (a fireman has to carry mandatorily on his back) weighed 18 kg. Now, it weighs 12 kg. During the training programme organised for the recruits, they were taught to crawl through underground tunnels, 20 feet long, with oxygen cylinders on their backs. This skill can also come in handy while rescuing sanitation workers trapped in sewers,” Kishore said. Asked to shed more light into the training programme, Atul Garg, DFS chief, said the 500 personnel spent six rigorous months training at two camps at Rohini and Mandawali. Inexplicable as it is in a city where fires are more frequent than public transport; this was the first wave of recruitment in the DFS in seven years. The trainees sat in the exam in 2014 and the entire process of selection and recruitment took four years.
The perks in the job are few — steady pay, benefits and the satisfaction of serving the people. However, the cons clearly outweigh the pros.
Risking it all
The risks far outstrip the perks in their job. Hear it from six men, who put their lives in harm’s way to save others
His kids think he is a cop
Pradeep, 31, left Border Security Force (BSF) to join fire services. A native of Sonipat in Haryana, his elder brother is in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).“My parents wanted me to work closer to home. They wished that I take up a job somewhere near Sonipat. Hence, I chose to sign up for fire service in Delhi. Explaining how being a fireman is different from guarding frontiers, he said, “There, we had to be alert all the time. Here, we are on our toes when we are called to action.”He said his children are too small to understand what he does for a living and thinks he is in the police. Two relatives, on his mother’s side, are in the Army and Air Force, Pradeep said.
‘Didn’t want to be a 9-5 slave’
Deepak works at the fire department of Delhi Police headquarters, while his brother is posted at Kirti Nagar Fire Station. Their father, also a fireman, recently retired from service. “I come from a family where it is preferred that every man would be in security services. I didn’t wish to be a corporate, slaving away from 9 am to 5 pm. I worked at multiple security firms where I made four times the money that I am making now. However, I found my true calling in fire service,” Deepak said. Asked what it takes to be a firefighter, he said, “While any other person would simply run to safety in the event of a fire, our job demands that we run right into it.” His father died of a lung ailment, which Deepak ascribed to his long years in the job without safety gear.
‘Same as being in police, Army’
For 32-year-old Mukesh Gehlawat, whose brother is in Delhi Police, fire service was a career goal he had set for himself since college.“My mother keeps saying that one should always work to earn goodwill. And, what better way to earn goodwill than saving lives on the job? I believe fire service should be seen as a similarly noble job as being in the police or Army,” said Mukesh, from Nizampur Majra village. One moment in his fairly young career as a fireman, which, he said, he looks back on with a sense of pride and satisfaction, came in July when he rescued a security guard from a building which had caught fire. Asked if he had a message for the general public, Mukesh said, “I would urge people to make way for ambulances and fire trucks.”
‘Father called to ask if I was safe’
It was only after 27-year-old Pawan Redu returned to his work station from Anaj Mandi that his family learnt of the fire that city hadn’t seen in decades. Back after putting his life on the line to save several more, Pawan got a call from his father, who was anxious to know if he was safe. “Whenever there’s a big fire in the city, my family members get anxious thinking that I might be at the scene dousing flames,” said Pawan, who hails from Jhajjar in Haryana. On his experience of being in the thick of action at the congested Anaj Mandi lane, he said he went into the building, which had, by then, turned into an inferno, with fellow fireman Rajesh Shukla, and saved 11 lives. “We didn’t have a moment to lose and had to tough it out,” the 27-year-old fireman said.
‘Don’t regret fireman’s job’
Son of a retired fireman, 28-year-old Satyawan Tehlan said he was obsessed with the idea of being in the service of people. After he was selected for fire service, his younger brother, too, started prepping for the job. “Though there are risks in our line of work, we don’t live in fear. There is a reason we joined the service and we can’t let fear deter us from saving lives,” said the 28-year-old from Lohar Heri village in Haryana.“We are called out in the field at any time of day, even when we are asleep or are having a meal. However, there’s never been any regret about joining fire service, as our job is about contributing to public welfare,” Satyawan said. He said the satisfaction a fireman derives from saving lives from throes of danger is unlike any other job.
‘Saving lives first, properties later’
For Sunil Kumar, a 28-year-old fire service personnel, the first of priority for those in his job is to save those trapped in a fire and then shift focus to saving their properties from damage. “Our job is to prevent loss of lives and ensure a swift and flawless operation at the scene of a fire,” he said. A native of Bahadurgarh, Sunil said his wife keeps checking in on him while he is out dousing fires. “She keeps asking when I will get back to my barracks,” he said, adding he has given rudimentary fire safety lessons to his family to ensure they can deal with an emergency at home. “They should be able save themselves in the event of a fire. Since, there’s not much I can do if a fire breaks out at home while I’m out, I trained them to look out for themselves,” he said.