PMC fire department finds minor flaws in audit at two Covid centres

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) fire department conducted fire audits of Covid-19 Care Centres (CCC) run by the civic body in which minor problems were found at two Covid centres, Yerwada and Dalvi hospital

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) fire department conducted fire audits of Covid-19 Care Centres (CCC) run by the civic body in which minor problems were found at two Covid centres, Yerwada and Dalvi hospital.

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On the background of increasing temperature and Covid-19 cases in the city, the fire department conducted a fire audit of PMC-run hospitals and Covid-19 centres as a precautionary measure.

The audit was conducted at jumbo Covid Centres at Shivajinagar, Baner and eight other centres along with private hospitals.

Prashant Ranpise, PMC chief fire officer said, “Covid-19 cases are increasing in the city and people are taking treatment in the PMC centres. To avoid fire incidents at centres, we conducted an audit and submitted a report to the health department and the construction department.”

“In this audit, we suggested maintenance of fire systems at Dalvi hospital (Shivajinagar) and Rajiv Gandhi hospital (Yerawada). At other hospitals and centres, we did not find any flaws so far,” Ranpise said.

“Besides that, the fire department provided training to hospital staff on how to control fire. In the last one week, the PMC gave training to more than 200 medical staff. The purpose is to control minor fire incidents at a preliminary stage and avoid a major tragedy,” he added.

Dr Sajiv Wavare, PMC assistant medical officer said, “There is no major recommendation in the fire audit. The fire department suggested repairs and maintenance of the fire extinguisher and system. All systems are in the operation stage and they need some minor repairs.”

The PMC construction department takes of repairs and maintenance of all PMC buildings, offices, hospitals.

Shivaji Lanke, superintendent engineer of Bhavan (construction) department said, “We received a report and there is a minor repair in the fire system as mentioned in fire audit. It is not for all Covid centres, only a few ones.”

During the summer season, there is a rise in fire incidents in the city areas. Due to high temperature, the fire department received calls of 547 fire incidents in the last three months. As per experience, there were more incidents in the month of April and May as compared to March.

Normally, the fire department receives 35-40 fire calls per week whereas during summer it goes above 70 per week.