Is Delhi Ready to Avert Fire Mishaps? Case: DPS Housing Society
The Lt. Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal held a meeting last week to review the fire preparedness and future plans of Delhi Fire Service. The meeting was attended by Satyendar Jain, Home Minister of Delhi Government, and officers of Delhi Police and Fire Services.
Dr. G.C. Misra, Director (Delhi Fire Service), made a presentation in this regard. It was apprised that the Delhi Fire Service has been established under Delhi Fire Service Act, 2007 to provide emergency rescue services in Delhi arising due to fire in road accidents, natural disasters, man-made disasters, terrorist activities, air crash, rail accidents, and so on.
Baijal was briefed about the organizational setup, operational areas, budget, fire prevention activities, training academy, workshop and fire-fighting appliances fleet. The focus area of the presentation was the modernization efforts undertaken by Delhi Fire Service vis-a-vis the needs of the society.
The Lt. Governor was also apprised about the major areas of concern faced by the Delhi Fire Service such as increasing population density, heavy traffic on roads, sub-standard constructions, increasing fire load density and lack of adequate resources.
Burning Case: DPS Housing Society
The risk of fatalities due to fire has increased manifold for the residents of DPS Cooperative Group Housing Society in Dwarka, Sector 4, Delhi. People complain that the congested car parking in the Society has left no space for the entry of firefighting vehicles in the event of fire in the building.
Obviously, if cars are parked on the pathways meant for the movement of vehicles, it will not be possible for the fire brigade to bring the fire apparatus inside the building to extinguish fire.
[ Read: Illegal Car Parking: People Are Not Safe at DPS Housing Society ]
At the outset, Lt. Governor stated that the Delhi Fire Service must assess its needs to strengthen itself in terms of manpower and machinery.
He also stressed upon the need for an annual schedule of all the procurements well before time and also ramping up the up-gradation and modernization efforts like computer-aided dispatch, GPS monitoring system of the fire tenders, procurement of latest protective gear and equipment such as robotic water towers, etc.
Chaired meeting on fire preparedness & future plans of Delhi Fire Services. Reviewed their operational mechanisms & response systems.(1/3)
— LG Delhi (@LtGovDelhi) May 26, 2017
He urged the department to play a proactive role in recommending amendments to the building bye-laws in matters of egress.
Finally, the Lt. Governor instructed that there should be regular drills to beef up the preparedness and response levels so that during incidents, the delays are reduced to the minimum and an optimum coordination between all the concerned agencies as well as the community, that is generally the first responder, is achieved.
“The focus must be to make Delhi Fire Service one of the best in the world by studying and replicating the best practices implemented in other metropolitan cities, with suitable modifications as per our context,” the Lt. Governor suggested.
