After a city theatre was gutted on Sunday, the PMC fire brigade is planning to conduct fire fighting training to prepare staff to handle such situations.

Theatre staff to turn fire fighters

After a city theatre was gutted on Sunday, the PMC fire brigade is planning to conduct fire fighting training to prepare staff to handle such situations.

Single screen theatres in the city which are almost 50 years old need a face lift, or it will be difficult to avert mishaps like the one which destroyed the Srinath theatre on Sunday, feel PMC fire brigade officials. And as a precautionary measure, they are conducting a training session for the staff members of all the 18 single screen theatres.

In addition, the Pune Exhibitors' Association has called an urgent meeting to discuss the safety of the single screen cinema theaters in the city today.

"All these 18 theatres in Pune have the age-old fire-fighting equipment like fire extinguishers, sand buckets, hydrants, hose pipe and water storage system," said Prashant Ranpise, deputy chief fire officer.

"We check the fire fighting equipment in theatres once a year. In fact, two days before the mishap we had given instructions to check the hydrants at Srinath theatre," he said.

Ashok Mohol, president, Pune Exhibitors Association, said that this is probably the first fire in a Pune-based theatre in the past 50 years. "We are considering the option tou00a0 replace traditional fire-fighting equipment with a modern automatic fire-fighting system," he said.

Balkrishan Bhide, manager, Prabhat Cinema, however, remarked that the traditional fire-fighting equipment is enough to tackle any minor fire in the cinema hall. "The issue is that the staff and watchmen should be given demonstrations on how to handle such situations, and use such specialised equipment," he said.