Fire department to get fire proximity suits, floating pump, smoke extraction blower next month

Gurugram: The under-resourced Gurugram fire department will finally get essential equipment — fire proximity suits, a floating pump and a smoke extraction blower

Gurugram: The under-resourced Gurugram fire department will finally get essential equipment — fire proximity suits, a floating pump and a smoke extraction blower — to combat fire and aid rescue operations by the end of next month.

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The fire department, which comes under the ambit of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), had last procured fire suits a decade ago that have expired, while floating pump and smoke extraction blower are completely new additions, officials said on Thursday.

IS Kashyap, assistant divisional fire safety officer, said that orders for the ₹80 lakh equipment were approved by the MCG last week, and subsequently purchased through a government e-portal, with the expected time period for delivery being one month.

“The Gurugram fire department placed a request for procurement of six items, of which four were approved by the MCG. Besides the fire fighting equipment, we have also ordered new uniforms for 200 firemen. The order is expected to be delivered by late October,” said Kashyap.

In its 2019-2020 budget, the MCG had reserved ₹14 crore for the fire department.

Procurement of two fire fighting equipment — breathing apparatus (BA), which provides firefighters with compressed fresh air during rescue work, and its compressor that helps fill oxygen into BA cylinders — was not approved due to technical issues, said Kashyap.

Firefighting suits are protective gears that can help firefighters withstand heat up to 1,000 degrees Celsius.

As per Kashyap, the fire department has two fire fighting suits, procured in 2008, that ideally need to be replaced after five years. The fire department has ordered for 10 fire proximity suits.

A floating pump is used for replenishing the tanks of fire tenders from nearby water bodies, wells, or water tanks. It can also be used for draining out excess water from a building. On the other hand, a smoke extraction blower helps remove excess smoke from stairwells, shafts, and rooms of a building.

Kashyap highlighted that there was a need to upgrade the fire department’s machinery to reduce the time needed for dousing fire and rescue operations.

“All the items have been a long standing demand for us and each of them has their own benefits. The fire suit will help us enter areas with high blaze and rescue those trapped inside. A floating pump will ensure that tanks of fire tenders remain filled during large-scale rescue operations, while the smoke extractor can remove smoke and other gases from buildings quickly and ensure people do not suffer from asphyxiation,” said Kashyap.

SK Dheri, former chief of Delhi Fire Service, who had briefly served as a fire chief of a private company in Gurugram, said that the limitation of fire fighting equipment was a serious concern especially since most buildings did not conform to fire norms.

“Most structures in Gurugram do not conform to the national building code and hence remain susceptible to fire. Thus, the role of the Gurugram fire department gets even more vital. It is imperative that they upgrade their equipment, to ensure they have the best available resources to combat fire. Once the new items are delivered, the department will reduce their time spent on dousing fires significantly and have a swifter response,” said Dheri.

Such is the limitation of the Gurugram fire department that it only has a solitary hydraulic ladder capable of reach only 42 metres, 14th floor of a building, even though their own records state that the city has more than 1200 high-rises.

The fire department has been trying to procure a 90-metre hydraulic ladder since 2008 without any success.