The Mumbai Fire Brigade has got the much-needed budget allocation of Rs 365.54 crore by the BMC. With the city battling frequent fire situations owing to old buildings and non-compliance with fire safety measures, the fire brigade has decided to include new projects to prevent such situations and save citizens if accidents occur. The projects will include real fire/smoke training facilities, firefighting drones and robots, bikers and much more.
Chief Fire Officer Hemant Parab spoke to the Free Press Journal, delving into the new additions in the coming months. He said, “We are very happy with this year’s budget allocation for our team. This will help us add more latest equipment to our fleet so that we can fight fire situations better and give our best to save more lives.”
A new live training centre for firefighters will be set up at Thakur Village in Kandivali, where the personnel will get trained in real-life scenarios like huge flames, high temperatures and black smoke. This will help them tackle incidents with greater confidence. Through this live training, the performance of firemen will also be monitored and proper instructions will be given to improve it. The training facility will have replicas of kitchen fires, bedroom fires, and other fire situations in both closed and open spaces.
Parab said the fire brigade also plans to procure drones for both surveillance and actual firefighting by spouting water. They will also have special public address systems to assure and calm down trapped civilians by announcing that the firemen have reached for their rescue.
A new control system will also be set up as a backup for fire department headquarters. If, owing to electrical failure or any other emergency, the civilians are not able to reach the fire department, this system will allow the team to receive distress calls without any hurdles.
The fire team currently has one firefighting robot that has proved to be helpful during major fires in the city. The team has conducted research and development on it and now plans to buy more robots with special features installed as per the proven requirements.
Keeping in mind the safety and protection of the environment, the fireteam will be switching from their regular diesel vehicles to new electric vehicles. The fire team will also replace old vehicles with quick response vehicles and combined firefighting-cum-rescue vehicles.
Moreover, the department, Parab said, will invest in fire bikes to reach fire sites quicker. He said, “In the next three to four months, we will start inducting fire bikes during our operations. They will reach the spot before the fire truck.”
