The only fire station in Salt Lake has only two of its five fire engines in working order, its water pump has packed up and it is disastrously short-staffed.

The fire station — situated beside the SDF building in Sector V — serves more than 300,000 people. But it lacks the infrastructure to fight even a small blaze.

It seems fire minister Pratim Chatterjee, who was quick to slam Kitchen Appliances India Limited for not having the basic fire-fighting arrangements in place, has never visited the only fire station in Salt Lake, where many of his ministerial colleagues, including former chief minister Jyoti Basu, also live.

“None of the water hydrants was working. There was no water in the water reservoir. Our firemen had a harrowing time bringing the fire under control,” said Pratim Chatterjee after visiting the plant.

On Sunday Metro visited the Kitchen Appliances plant to find out that all the 16 water hydrants were working and the water reservoir was filled to capacity.

At the Sector V fire station, however, it became apparent that if a fire were to break out in a highrise in Salt Lake, or even Sector V where more than 200 IT companies have opened their offices, the occupants would have to wait for help to arrive from fire stations outside Salt Lake.

Here’s what we saw:

Number of fire engines: The station has five fire engines, of which three are out of commission for the past one year, waiting for repairs.

“The application for allotment of funds to repair the three fire engines is lying with the state finance department for an year,” said Bibhash Guha, the divisional fire officer.

Water pump: The officers in the fire station admitted that the water pump developed a snag almost six months ago but had yet to be repaired.

As a result, they have to rush to the fire station in Maniktala for refills whenever there is a fire.

Manpower: There are only seven firemen in the entire fire station when, according to the rule book, there should be four firemen, one leader, one officer and one driver for every fire engine.

“There is acute manpower shortage in the fire department. More than 1,000 posts are lying vacant,” said Guha.

The firemen at the station say whenever there is a fire all of them have to rush out. As a result, nobody is left in the station even to take calls.

Fire minister responds: Pratim Chatterjee says he is not aware of the condition of fire stations in the city.

“You think I will go around finding out what the problems are at all the fire stations? I am the fire minister, not a fireman,” said an angry Chatterjee. “Everything is fine at all the fire stations.”

Sector V unhappy: “The fire minister is quick to slam the owners of the place for inadequate fire-fighting arrangements but does he know the condition of his own fire stations,” asked a senior official of an IT company.

“It is shameful. Instead of spending time in other activities, he should make some effort to improve the fire-fighting infrastructure,” the official added.