The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) annually receives an average of 13,000 to 14,000 calls. Just 30 per cent of these calls are related to actual fire incidents.
70 per cent of the calls are of house or tree collapses, rescue of animals- birds or drowning cases, etc. The MFB has attended 6,973 calls from January to September, out of them 27 per cent were for fires while 41 per cent calls were for rescue, said the fire official.
There are over 2,500 officers and firefighters in the MFB. Apart from regular fire-fighting duties and rescue operations, the officials have additional tasks of carrying out fire audits in private buildings, malls, multiplexes, and hospitals too. Currently, there are 35 fire stations and 19 mini-fire stations under six regional command centers. There are more than 270 fire vehicles like fire engines, jumbo water tankers, and ladder vans. All the personnel in MFB are well-trained in firefighting operations. In addition to this, they are also a part of specialised teams. It involves collapsed structure search and rescue (CSSR), flood rescue team, beach safety, rope and rescue, and medical first responder.
In the last four years, the MFB has received 53,545 calls for fires, drowning, house collapse, etc. Out of it, 15,822 calls were related to fires, in which 73 fire personnel and citizens lost their lives. While 516 of them were injured, 68 per cent to 70 per cent of the dead and injured were men.
Hemant Parab, a chief fire officer said, "Wherever the question of lives are involved, it becomes an emergency. We not only attend to fire incidents, but we also respond to chemical spillages, road - rail - aircraft incidents, flooding, gas leakages, or any standby duty."
The response time of the fire brigade is 12 - 14 minutes in peak hours, which ideally should be around 6 - 7 minutes, as per the Central government norms. To reduce the response time, the MFB has plans to form a quick response team with vehicles in 24 administrative wards of the city. These teams will be the first to reach any disaster spot in the city for rescue operations, said the fire official.
