The city’s Fire Brigade department has tabled a proposal for the procurement of six highly equipped combined fire engines for densely populated areas.
As per the proposal, there are 35 fire stations, 19 small fire stations and over 270 firefighting vehicles in the city. Among them, 11 fire engines have been in service since 2002-03. Officials said these vehicles have been used in exceptional situations for the past 17 years and require frequent repairs; for some, spare parts are not available in the market, making them unviable for the department.
The proposal has also brought back into focus the Central government’s Standing Fire Advisory Council (SFAC) suggestions, including replacement of firefighting vehicles every 10 years. Furthermore, the Centre will soon implement a policy wherein vehicles that have completed 15 years should be scrapped.
Meanwhile, the executive engineer has also given a certificate to scrap these 11 fire engines. It’s here that the new fire engines will come into the picture. Each will have an 18-mt water tower facility. These engines will have high power monitors which will be helpful in throwing water vertically; a feature that will come in handy in high-rise fires, and even densely populated areas like Bhendi Bazaar and slum areas of the city.
The fire department has estimated an expenditure of Rs 29.62 crore. M/s High-tech services has won the bid but is ready to work for Rs 32.12 crore.
Chief Fire Officer Hemant Parab said, “With the help of these fire engines, we can conduct both fire dousing and rescue operations simultaneously. We have many small lanes in the city and don’t get enough space to park vehicles at fire incident spots. So, we wanted an engine that could multitask. This is not advanced, but a time-saving engine.”
