High-rises, commercial buildings told to keep space for fire engines to pass

Wadala Fire Brigade personnel conduct a drill at the Jumbo Covid Centre at Sion on January 6. File pic

The Mumbai Fire Brigade has asked residents of high-rises as well as managements of commercial complexes like malls in the city to keep open space in the premises and surrounding area where fire engines can be parked in case of emergency.

The directions have come as part of the drills conducted by the MFB. "We are regularly conducting drills and during these, our officers identify places where we can park our vehicles during emergencies. We ask the management or residents to clear the places so that our teams can reach and park the engines swiftly during a disaster and start the rescue operation immediately," said R A Chaudhari, technical adviser of MFB. He added, "We are focusing on high-rises and commercial complexes with large footfalls such as malls and government buildings."

MFB has conducted over 80 drills in the past six months.

Another fire officer said, "Most of the time, fire brigades struggle to get a place for park fire engines and ladders which are massive in size. Our time is wasted in finding this place. If the place is already fixed, then time will be saved."

Drills

"During drills, fire brigade teams train the management and security guards to use an internal fire fighting system. We also find lapses and rectify them in installed systems. In addition, we list out the dos and don'ts for different kinds of fires," Chaudhari said.

He also added that the drills are different for different places. Elaborating further, he said that as malls have customers who are not familiar with the fire exits, the respondents need to be more careful of the same."

"We are trying to approach citizens to conduct drills. In every disaster, the first response can save the lives of people. First respondents are always residents or security staff and if they are trained, it will help save lives," a fire brigade officer said.

Preparedness

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has allotted Rs 365 crore for the upgradation of the fire brigade. Of this, Rs 300 crore is earmarked for technical upgradation and Rs 65 crore for fire station construction and repairing. The BMC will also construct a drill tower and hi-tech training simulator. Aslo fire brigade will also purche drones and robots for fire fighting, which can be used to send water pipes to higher places.

An MFB officer said, "The fire brigade has 20 ladders. One of them is 90-metre long and is with the Byculla unit while the 81-metre one is with a Borivli unit. We have also ordered two 64-metre ladders and one 70-metre ladder."

"The MFB has also ordered fire fighting vehicles for high-rises which will have a high pressure machine to send water up to 50th floor," he added.

Nikhil Desai, a Matunga resident, said, "The fire brigade should act strictly for compliance of fire safety norms and law. There are laws but no one follows them. All the fire incidents show that the rules and regulations were not being followed. Therefore, the fire brigade should take an even stricter stance."

80
No. of drills conducted in the past six months