The fire services department has woken up to the sorry state of affairs at the lone fire station in Salt Lake and decided to provide it new equipment.

“One bouser that can hold 16 kilolitres of water and another fire tender will be given to the fire station,” fire minister Pratim Chatterjee announced at Writers’ Buildings.

On Monday, Metro had reported how ill-equipped the fire station, which serves more than 300,000 people, was. Only two of the five fire engines were in working condition and the water pumps were out of order. Firemen from the station had struggled to douse the flames at a Videocon plant in Sector V on Saturday.

The department has also decided to acquire land in New Town to build a new fire station with improved facilities. According to Chatterjee, the station will reduce the pressure on the Sector V facility.

“We have options in terms of location of the proposed station. The land will be acquired shortly and the construction will begin soon,” said the minister. He added that his department will run a check on the fire fighting preparedness in the township.

Fire services department sources said there were talks of shifting the headquarters from Free School Street to the facility in New Town.

“We are exploring the possibility of shifting the headquarters. But nothing has been finalised yet,” said Chatterjee.

Though he admitted that the Sector V fire station was not equipped to handle major fires, he blamed the Videocon authorities for Saturday’s blaze.

“Our investigation revealed that the 40,000 sq ft compound was supposed to be a vacant plot, where the company had planned to set up an information technology centre. But the land was used to build a godown,” explained Chatterjee.

Gautam Sengupta, the vice-president and chief operating officer of Videocon, refused comment.

“The cause of the fire is still unknown,” said the fire minister.