Fire department proposes tech upgrades, new stations to reduce response time

In a bid to reduce response time, officials have proposed to install GPS trackers in all fire tenders and link them to the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority’s (GMDA) integrated command control centre

In a bid to reduce response time, officials have proposed to install GPS trackers in all fire tenders and link them to the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority’s (GMDA) integrated command control centre. Further, the proposal to set up four fire stations to provide proper coverage to newer sectors has also moved forward.

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Officials of the fire department and GMDA said that this would notify the command centre about the ground situation and in case a fire tender is stuck in a jam, another vehicle could be sent via a different route so that there is no delay in response.

“Often, our fire tenders get stuck in snarls and hence, get delayed in reaching the site of a fire. A tracker would help give us this information on a real-time basis and we can accordingly send a fresh batch of fire tenders through less congested routes,” said IS Kashyap, assistant divisional fire safety officer.

The fire department has 25 fire tenders located at its fire stations in Sector 29, Sector 37, Bhim Nagar, and Udyog Vihar. Kashyap said that the matter of making all fire tenders GPS-enabled was discussed in a meeting with GMDA officials last week.

“The matter was discussed with both representatives of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) as well as the fire department. We want it to operate on similar lines as the police control room, which relays all complaints or distress calls to the nearest PCR vehicle. We want to build a similar system, where the official at the command control centre relays any fire incident to the nearest fire station or fire tender,” said a senior GMDA official who had attended the meeting.

The official said that the proposal is currently at a nascent stage and its outlines are being chalked out.

“For this system to function, we will have to create or make alterations to the existing software at the command centre. We will figure out the best way to make it operational in the coming weeks and subsequently, draft a comprehensive project model,” the official cited above said.

Besides the GMDA, Kashyap also said that the state government is planning on making all fire tenders GPS-enabled across Haryana. “Soon after the GMDA meeting, we learnt that the Haryana government is also planning on enabling all fire tenders across the state with GPS and they are also in the process of starting an assessment survey in this regard. The proposal has been floated at both the district and state levels, and whichever process is done earlier, will be implemented in Gurugram,” said Kashyap.

Kashyap also said that a proposal sent to the Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradikharan (HSVP) in Gurugram by MCG in February last year for seeking land in sectors 9, 9A, 23A, 43 for setting up new fire stations has moved forward. The Gurugram fire department comes under the ambit of MCG.

Kashyap said that due to the coronavirus outbreak, the matter was put on the back burner.

“The proposal has just recently been cleared by the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) within Gurugram and has been sent to the HSVP headquarters for final approval. The city has expanded a lot over the last decade and the existing four fire stations do not provide proper coverage, especially to those living in the newer sectors (sectors 58-115). Hence, new fire stations are urgently needed to reduce response time to such areas,” said Kashyap.

The latest fire station to be opened in the city is in Udyog Vihar, in April 2012.