THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The early onset of southwest monsoon has left the district fire department grappling with an unprecedented surge in emergency calls. Between May 23 and 31 alone, the fire and rescue teams responded to 1,671 distress calls - the highest recorded in recent years - mostly due to tree-related incidents triggered by heavy rains and wind speeds reaching 60 to 70 kmph.
The heavy rains accompanied by strong winds that lashed the capital on the night of May 23 left a trail of destruction across the district with the city fire station alone receiving 110 calls. The intense rain and wind brought down several massive trees, tree trunks resulting in the damage of 271 houses and 34 vehicles across the districts. In many locations, huge hoardings also collapsed causing extensive damage to power lines and properties raising serious concerns over the management of trees and the stability of the hoardings.
Lack of proper tree management and pruning are cited as the reasons for the high number of tree fall incidents. As many as 374 tree-related calls were reported in the Trivandrum city alone during these days. Many vulnerable trees along major roads and residential areas collapsed leaving the fire officials working round the clock to clear the fallen trees and respond to emergencies.
An official of the district fire department alleged that the government agencies who are the custodians of the trees didn’t do timely pruning or axing to minimise property damage. “People think that the fire department is responsible for tree management. Our duty is to respond to emergency calls and do rescue operations and it is the responsibility of various authorities to prevent such calamities. At least 50 per cent of the calamities could have been avoided,” said a top official of the district fire department.
As many as eight fire officials were injured during the relief operations and several of the equipment were damaged. “It was hard to respond to so many calls during a short span of time and many of our officials were injured while removing fallen trees.
Chainsaws used for removing trees were also damaged and we have to replace all those equipment now and we have sought funds from the District Disaster Management Authority,” the official said. Increasing the number of stations is the only way to meet the growing emergencies happening in the capital because of the climate crisis. “Proposals to set up fire stations at medical college and Palode are yet to get administrative sanction,” the official added.