“The Pessimist Sees Difficulty In Every Opportunity.
The Optimist Sees Opportunity In Every Difficulty.”

The job of a fire-fighter is perhaps the most daring and challenging considering the fact that he has to put his own life at peril in the line of his duty. A gruelling duty that requires him to be on his toes for anywhere between 12 and 24 hours, his job is actually an ordeal punctuated with a wide range of responsibilities. For the uninitiated, a fire-fighter apart from the array of responsibilities he is saddled with, also has to constantly sharpen and update his skills in fire-fighting and medical emergencies, but also in the upkeep of the firehouse, equipment and apparatus in a state of readiness.

In Mumbai, these responsibilities are fraught with grave risks as the Mumbai Fire Brigade grapples with an assorted tasks besides fire-fighting. According to former Chief Fire Officer Hemant Parab, just 30 per cent of the calls to the Mumbai Fire Brigade are related to fire incidents. While about 40 per cent are calls for rescue, such as in the case of a drowning incidents, during floods, tree collapses, and bird and animal rescue, 2-3 per cent of the calls are house collapse calls each year, the remainder calls are in case of various incidents, such as, in case of road and rail incidents, oil spillages, chemical spillages, and natural disasters, such as cyclones.

The magnitude of the problem in a huge metropolis like Mumbai can be gauged by the fact that the Mumbai Fire Brigade attended to nearly 10,000 emergency calls in only the first seven months of this year. A break-up of the data from the Mumbai fire brigade shows that it received 2,925 fire-related calls (30%). While 4,515 were rescue calls, 2,533 were calls for incident like building/slab collapses and tree crashes.

While people celebrate Diwali with gusto, the fire-fighter has to be prepared, his sleeved rolled up to tackle their indiscretion. The Mumbai Fire Brigade received 280 calls related to fire, including 79 due to firecracker bursting, during this year’s Diwali period between November 9 and 15. These calls were high compared to 65 in 2021 and 37 in 2022. Of the 280 calls, two calls were classified as level one, which needs deployment of at least four fire tenders, while one was designated level two, resulting in eight fire engines being sent to the spot.

The 79 calls included 27 on November 12 on the day of Diwali, 19 on November 14 and 13 on November 13. What is also pertinent is the high number of calls related to firecracker bursting came despite strict directives from the Bombay High Court in view of the deteriorating air quality in Mumbai. While 78 calls were received on November 12, 68 were received on November 13 and 43 on November 15, as per MFB data.

With the Mumbai Fire Brigade tackling a growing number of incidents given the wide range of their duties and responsibilities, its response in quick time to emergencies become paramount. Understandably, the Mumbai Fire Brigade decided to induct into its fleet one quick-response vehicle each for 22 of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s 24 wards.

Quick-response vehicles are firefighting vehicles that are smaller than usual fire engines. They look like minivans and are equipped to enter narrow lanes, which are common in Mumbai. They have mini-water tanks with a 500-litre capacity along with rescue tools like hose pipes and ladders. They can accommodate four people including the driver.

The BMC earlier had 19 quick-response vehicles, one in each of its 19 mini-fire stations. According to officials, four of the new 22 quick-response vehicles have already been added and that the remaining would be inducted soon. The vehicles will act as rapid-response vehicles and be able to reach incident spots quickly. These vehicles will also carry out operations like bird trapping and attend to short circuits and oil spillage on roads. It may be mentioned that last year, the Fire Brigade inducted 24 firefighting motorbikes into its fleet.

The efforts of the Fire Brigade deserve to be complemented by complaint and aware citizens as prevention is always better than cure. Often in an emergency, the commitment of the fire-fighter is taken for granted. A two-way approach where people also act responsibly so as not to imperil the lives of these dedicated soldiers, is the need of the hour.