In past month, fire dept got an emergency call every 15 minutes

The Delhi Fire Services control room is nothing less than a war room these days. In the last one month, the phone rang every 15 minutes, following which a team equipped with less-than-satisfactory equipment rushed out to reach the emergency spot. According to senior officers, the number of emergency calls has been constantly rising in the last five years, and it is feared that 2017 will turn out to be the most destructive.

In April alone, many incidents of fire, in which lives were lost, were reported. On Saturday itself, three different fire incidents claimed three lives, including that of a 3-year-old child and a pregnant woman. As many as four people were left critically injured.

Earlier on April 14, two men were charred to death in central Delhi's Karol Bagh area when a fire broke out in a two-storeyed residential-cum-commercial building. In another major fire at a tent house in south Delhi's Sunlight Colony on April 4, an 80-year-old tailor, Ratan Singh, was killed.

According to senior officers, the number of fire incidents goes dramatically up during the summers. "As temperature rises, buildings turn dry, increasing chances of fire. Any combustible item is likely to catch fire easily and faster. Our sole aim during any rescue operation is to ensure zero casualty and safety of people. A high number of fire incidents have already been reported this year, and the figure may cross last year's record. Our preparations are in place," Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg said.

Advising people to take precautions, Garg said it was important to get all the electrical wirings and fittings in a house checked by a professional electrician every year before the onset of summer. "Combustible items should not be stashed under direct sunlight and electrical appliances must not be over-loaded. Also, it would be good if people can keep their buckets filled with water, so that emergencies can be attended to without any delay," he said.

Besides these problems, the fire department is drastically short-staffed. The officials have to play multi-taskers during any incident. They, however, said efforts were on to deal with the issue.

"The good news is that the process of recruitment of 39 Station Officers, 9 Sub-Officers, 55 Radio Telephone Operators, 803 Fire Operators, 3 Workshop Assistants, and a Battery Fitter is in progress. They are expected to join the department shortly," Garg said.

In terms of the budget, the total allocation for the Delhi Fire Services during 2016-17 was Rs 5,900 lakh in plan head, Rs 11,136 lakh in non-plan head, and Rs 800 lakh for capital works under plan.

"For 2017-18, the budget is Rs 22,640 lakh. It is felt that the ongoing projects concerning construction of fire stations, etc, will be completed during the year and future projects will be taken up by the Public Works Department (PWD)," the officer said.

At present, the Delhi Fire Services has 61 stations. In order to reduce the response time, a target of 72 fire stations, including 2 non-planed stations i.e. Delhi Secretariat and Udyog Nagar, have been planned during the 12th five-year plan. The remaining 11 fire stations have now been included in 13th five-year plan, the officer said.