Following the fire which recently broke out at the Mont Blanc skyscraper in Kemp’s Corner, residents had alleged that the fire brigade arrived half an hour late. Now, the Mumbai Fire Brigade has decided to install a computerised control system to improve their response time and for the better management of emergency calls in the city.
Senior fire officials say that the move comes after it was observed in many cases that the delay in response time is caused due to the difficulties faced in the handling of emergency calls manually.
“Since the possibility of human error is unavoidable, we have decided to computerise the emergency call management system. The calls will automatically be received by the system, which will contain a database with details about the locations, road maps and other things. It will help us reach the spot immediately and will also alert the nearest fire station about the emergency,” said a senior fire official.
The official added that the system will use the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS). “The system will also show the shortest route to reach the spot,” said another official.
At present, the fire brigade manually handles the emergency calls — which are about fires, building collapses and drowning — received on 101.
“A lot of the time, the manual handling of emergency calls has resulted in a delay in response time. The efficiency of the fire brigade is measured on the basis of the response time, because every minute is counted during the emergency,” explained a senior fire official, adding that the computerised system is used in many other countries.
At present, the fire brigade’s response time is 10 minutes in the city and 20 minutes in the suburbs. It is lesser during the night and also exceeds during peak hour traffic and in extreme traffic conditions.
Chief fire officer AN Varma said, “We have invited expression of interest from parties and the process will be fast-tracked.”
Ready, steady, go
The efficiency of the fire brigade is measured on the basis of the response time, because every minute is counted during the emergency. At present, the fire brigade’s response time is 10 minutes in the city and 20 minutes in the suburbs. It is lesser during the night and also exceeds during peak hour traffic and in extreme traffic conditions
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