Kerala - Kochi
Fire and Rescue Services ill-equipped to tackle emergency

Staff Reporter

Lacks basic facilities to perform tasks assigned to it

KOCHI: As one more Fire Service Day is being observed on April 14, the staff of the Kerala Fire and Rescue Services Department continues to languish without the basic facilities for performing the duties assigned to them.

The Kerala Fire and Rescue Services Department, which is vested with the responsibility of saving lives of people and protecting the properties of the State from fire, accidents and other natural calamities, however, continues to be the most ill equipped for any kind of rescue operations. The inadequacies and shortages of equipment and human resources affecting the functioning of the department had been revealed before the public many times before, but the authorities seems to be turning a blind eye to the issue.

Even in the light of major fire disasters taking place in different parts of the country, the Government has hardly taken any steps to update and modernise the department.

Basic-level problems
The problems begin from the basic level. Though the force was formed in 1962 separating it from the Police Force by the Kerala Fire Force Act of 1962, no rules had been formulated under the Act even after decades.

The Fire Force was renamed Kerala Fire and Rescue Services Department in 2002 for broadening its field of activity.

Even then, no attempt was made to frame a manual in the model of the Kerala Police Manual, which acts as the basic code for the State's police.

The result is that, the duties or even the routine activities of the Fire and Rescue Services are not defined till now.

This gives rise to an odd situation where even the routine activities are defined according to the whims and fancies of individual officers. In the absence of defined manual of duties, the Fire and Rescue Services personnel are often forced to do any kind of activity on public demand, including cutting away trees and removing bodies.

Removal of bodies by the Fire Service personnel before the police arrive on the scene often leads to destruction of valuable evidence, it is pointed out.

The training syllabus for Fire and Rescue Service personnel does not include swimming or rescue operations in water.

The personnel usually engage in rescue work in water armed with their personal training in swimming, as one of the staffers confessed.

And often they have to face embarrassing situations facing the public in case of boat capsize or drowning, or wait till the experts from the Navy arrive on the scene.

Moreover, there is absolutely no training in case of a chemical hazard, which is more alarming in the case of a city like Kochi where chemical disaster management should be regarded as a priority area.

The two-month training for the Leading Fireman post includes mainly parade only.

Poor equipment
More dismal is the condition of equipment. The department has antiquated vehicles, without even power steering.

Most of the fire engines are of the same standard size and are not topographically compatible. In the absence of smaller fire engines reaching spots through narrow roads becomes impossible. The equipment is also obsolete.

The hoses are heavy and unmanageable. There have been no steps to provide new, lightweight hoses and equipment, even after continuous demands.

The department personnel are not given even the basic facilities at stations.

Even though they have 24-hour duty, not even a ground sheet or resting facilities are provided at the station. Even their uniform is not well defined.

However, the authorities continue to observe Fire Services Day on April 14, dedicated in memory of 66 firemen belonging to the Bombay Fire Brigade, who died in an explosion at the Victoria Dock in Mumbai in 1944, on the same day.
(The Hindu - 15/04/06)