Mumbai: On Wednesday, 150 employees of the hospitality industry took part in a “Fire Fighting Drill” competition held at the Mumbai Fire Brigade headquarters in Byculla. Most participants were kitchen and housekeeping staff, who were earlier trained in the fire volunteers training programme.
They represented various hotel chains in the western region. The competition was divided into three categories, to execute three different fire extinguishing drills — blanket drill, extinguisher drill and the hose-reel drill.
On April 1944, when 66 fire fighters on duty were martyred at the Victoria docks when the freighter ship, SS Fort Skine caught fire and was destroyed in two blasts resulting in huge catastrophe. Following the hazardous incident, April 14-20, is observed as the fire safety week across India.
Mumbai fire brigade also carry out several awareness programmes throughout the week with demonstrations, mock drills and exhibition of logistics, held at prime locations. The fire officials aim to make participants aware of the firefighting basics, crowd management and evacuation tactics, along with preliminary drills.
The demonstrations took place at the Churchgate Railway Station and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Railway Station earlier this week, before it was held at Byculla on the following days it will move to the regional command centre of Vikhroli and Borivli.
“Our prime objective is to instil confidence in people, as most fatalities occur due to panic. It is important to train and motivate people to be proactive and remain calm until the firemen reach the spot,” said Y R Jadhav, deputy chief fire officer (Training). The voluntary training is to be conducted every Sunday from April 21, in the Regional Command centres at Byculla, Vikhroli and Borivli. Volunteers may call 1800-222-101 from Monday to Saturday for their registration.
