Woes galore for city firefighters

Officials say carelessness is one of the main reasons the city has seen a rise in the number of fire-related incident

Woes galore for city firefighters

Officials say carelessness is one of the main reasons the city has seen a rise in the number of fire-related incident

"Short circuits are a major cause for accidents. Quite a few people fix multiple pin holders in a 5-amp plug point, and use various electrical appliances at a time.

The wire melts slows, and shorts when its least expected," said B K Hamppagol, deputy director (Technical), Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services.

A comparison of the past three years shows that the number of calls has kept on increasing year by year. In 2009, the fire department received 1,569 calls, in 2010 it has touched 1,734 calls. Even the number of prank calls is increasing compared with previous years.

"It becomes very frustrating when we receive prank calls. But there is no way to know they are prank calls, and we have to attend all of them. We can't even trace the persons, because most of them are made from public telephone booths. I request the public not to make such calls," says Hamppagol.

The department also faces difficulties to reach an accident spot. "Each one of our vehicles weighs more than 13 tonnes. Bad roads and unscientific road humps add to the delay. Places with narrow lanes, such as Commercial Street, where highly inflammable materials like thinner, wood polish and solutions are stored, it becomes very difficult to navigate," said Hamppagol.

Fire Force Director (Technical) B G Chengappa said, "This is one of the fastest growing cities. Earlier, there were 100 wards and now there are 198. More and more residential and commercial complexes are coming up. Every building should adopt safety measures especially high rise structure."

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