Mumbai Chief Fire Officer Prabhat Rahangdale during his visit to the Free Press Journal office on Wednesday, opens up about his plans for educating children on firefighting techniques.
"Every month at least 20 schools visit fire stations. Parents and teachers approach us to allow school children to visit fire stations where we educate them about basic firefighting techniques," Rahangdale said.
The Chief also revealed they are planning to introduce a special curriculum in schools to educate children about fire emergencies. "Spreading awareness about fire emergencies is absolutely necessary. And to educate children we are planning to introduce curriculum in schools through which children will be taught to tackle fire emergencies," the Fire Chief said.
Recently, BMC slashed the budget allocated of the fire department by 50 percent (it now stands at Rs 104.45 crore). When asked about the impac this cut might have, Rahangdale said, "Provisions have been made as per requirements. For the last few years, we are focusing on making the budget realistic."
Talking about need for more fire stations, he said, "We have 35 fire stations, but the city needs at least 60 to 70 fire stations to meet demands. Under my leadership 15 mini fire stations have been built and we are planning to build 15 more such mini fire stations across Mumbai."
Prabhat Rahangdale recently was conferred with President’s Medal for Gallantry for his services in the July 2019 fire at the MTNL building in Bandra. Eighty-six civilians were rescued in one of the biggest fire operations the city has witnessed.
