NEW DELHI: The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) has collaborated with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, to soon open a fire station inside the hospital. According to the agency, this will be country’s first hospital to have its own fire station inside its premises.
Atul Garg, Director of Delhi Fire Service (DFS), said: “All the infrastructure will be provided by the AIIMS. Fire tenders, equipment and manpower will be managed by the DFS. This will save us travelling time. The idea could be replicated in all the big hospitals of Delhi in days to come.”
With a heavy footfall and around 30,000 to 40,000 people visiting every day, the hospital is prone to small fire incidents regularly. The idea of having a fire station at the hospital was discussed a year ago, but implementing the plan got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Garg, a fire post will initially be set up by the DFS with minimum staff and a single fire tender. Afterwards, the number of fire tenders will be increased to three. The AIIMS department of planning is in the process of marking specific space inside the campus where officials can stay. “We are trying to start our AIIMS fire post by next month” mentioned Garg.
Recently, there were two fire incidents at the country’s premier health institute. One was on the ninth floor conversion block, where 20 fire tenders had to be rushed. No casualties were reported, as it was a non-patient block housing mostly labs. A few days later, there was a fire in the store room adjacent to an operation theatre.
The hospital will not have exclusive rights on the fire station, as it is being planned in a way that it can cater to the needs of nearby areas and other hospitals in the vicinity.