THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As many as 126 volunteers including women, comprised the civil defence team constituted by the Fire and Rescue Services Department to deal with emergencies. For the first time, they were deployed to ensure the smooth conduct of the Attukal pongala festival. Forty-six casualties including three fire incidents were attended by the civil defence team on Monday.
“Community involvement during an emergency is key. We had the opportunity to attend to casualties during Attukal pongala. It was a very enriching experience for us,” Sarath Sasi, one of the members.
District fire officer (Kottayam) Shenoy K R, who coordinated the team at the Attukal Temple zone, said that the volunteers had been given intensive training in fire fighting, dealing with casualties and giving first aid. “We deployed volunteers from Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram for the Attukal pongala. They were on duty from Sunday morning. It was a tremendous experience and all of them responded well to casualty calls. Several collapsed amid the festivities and were provided with emergency care,” said Shenoy.
Defence teams
He said that the department is planning to constitute a 50-member defence team under each fire station across the state. There are around 124 fire stations in the state. “We are planning to rope in a minimum of 15 women volunteers in each team. Currently, training programs are underway,” said Shenoy.
Volunteers will be certified. “We will be providing ID cards and insurance for the volunteers soon. Currently, we are taking care of their transportation and food. We have plans to pay them for their service,” said Shenoy. He added that the volunteers under the civil defence team would be deployed at vulnerable areas prone to natural disasters for training people to step up disaster preparedness.