City Fire dept to get modern equipment

The district fire department, which is reeling under staff shortage and lack of modern equipment, will soon get water bowsers and foam vehicles. Sunil Thapliyal reports.

The district fire department, which is reeling under staff shortage and lack of modern equipment, will soon get water bowsers and foam vehicles.

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The decision was taken in a high-purchase committee meeting held in Chandigarh recently. The committee has sanctioned 31 water bowsers with capacity of 10,000 litres and 25 foam tenders for Haryana. The Millennium City will get a minimum of at least one vehicle from each category.

“Gurgaon is a city of high-rises, skyscrapers and towers. It houses around 800 multi-storeyed buildings and factories, while several are under construction. While the city has been growing rapidly, the fire department does not have adequate equipment to fight a tragedy,” said HS Sihag, chief fire officer, Gurgaon.

The Millennium City has skyscrapers as high as 70 metre. Hamilton Court, the city’s tallest building, is 90 metre high. But the department has only two hydraulic platforms. And they can reach a maximum height of 42 metre. Besides, it has only 23 fire tenders.

“If more vehicles are added to our squad, our response time will get better. The standard time should be from 3 to 5 minutes, while our response time is 8 minutes,” said Sihag.