The men who risk it all during fire rescue operations

Firefighters face the most risk from explosions and collapse of structures and were the top reasons that often resulted in injuries or fatalities.

From cuts from trying to break glass windows, to bruises from brushing past pointed objects, to more serious injuries from collapsing portions of buildings — a firefighter sees it all in his line of daily duty.

Firefighters in action after a factory caught fire and collapsed at the Peera Garhi area in New Delhi on Thursday. Several people, including some fire officials, were injured. (ANI Photo)

Firefighters HT spoke to on Thursday said that everytime they enter a building engulfed in flames, it is with the knowledge that he might get trapped so deep inside the debris that even breathing might become difficult, costing them their lives.

That is precisely what happened to a firefighter during a rescue operation on Thursday.

Fireman Amit Balyan entered a battery warehouse that was on fire in west Delhi’s Peeragarhi at the break of dawn. The rescue operation continued for nearly three more hours and at around 7am, an explosion — suspected to be caused by an overheated battery — ripped through the rear of the building, bringing down the structure.

Balyan was among the 14 firefighters who were trapped.

Balyan was also the only one who later succumbed at a hospital.

Delhi Fire Services (DFS) chief, Atul Garg, said that fire officials face the most risk from explosions and collapse of structures. These, he said, were the top reasons that often resulted in injuries or fatalities.

“In today’s (Thursday) case, an explosion was followed by the collapse of the building,” Garg said.

Officials agreed that entrapment and building collapse is a firefighter’s worse nightmare. Injuries are from roofs or portions of buildings collapsing or firemen slipping and falling from crumbling structures. Threat also lurks in the form of exit routes getting blocked and causing the risk of asphyxiation.

Assistant Divisional Officer (Old Delhi), Rajesh Kumar Shukla, who spearheaded the fire rescue operations at an illegal factory at north Delhi’s Anaj Mandi in December last year that killed 45 people and was severely injured while doing so, said a firefighter is always trained to deal with the worse and each rescue comes with its own challenges.

“A firefighter in his professional life often experiences all possible injuries that you can ever imagine. We break glasses to gain access and cut ourselves, get burns, or injured by nails and other pointed objects piercing through our gumboots,” he said.

Shukla’s colleagues also narrated their experience of entering an unknown, enclosed space with breathing apparatus that is designed to only last for 45 minutes. Each fire fighter is equipped with 1,800 litre cylinders of compressed air, which lasts for 45 minutes. This includes evacuation time as well.

“Imagine a burning room filled with smoke, where you can barely see. You have to get the occupants out safely and also douse the fire. All this while your breathing timee is limited,” a senior fire official said.