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High-end gear like steel-toed boots gather dust at the state fire headquarters in Ranchi. Picture by Prashant Mitra
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It is like a sledge-load of Christmas goodies for a ghost town.
The state fire department is hoarding on advanced blaze battling gear, but at the same time is almost blasé about manpower crunch that can leave its equipment arsenal grossly under-utilised.
The department, which has over 35 per cent of the sanctioned 525 posts across 31 fire stations lying vacant, has recently sent a fresh wish list to the disaster management department. It includes several first-time items like the highly specialised Cobra fire engines, fire-resistant gels, rescue tenders with life support system, laser glass cutters, explosive gas detector kit, jumping cushions and boots and pneumatic lifting bags.
Officials in the state fire department said a part of the disaster management funds granted by the Centre was earmarked for upgrade of fire services and they were only putting the money to good use.
“Around Rs 3 crore is meant for the fire department. So, we have sent a proposal to the disaster management cell to sanction and release funds for procurement purposes,” fire officer Suresh Prasad said.
As many as 82 types of firefighting gear have been requisitioned in the proposal. “We are also upgrading our training module. We wish to procure models of airport, aircraft and high-rises, besides a rescue simulator to train our personnel,” Prasad said, adding that they were expecting to buy the equipment by this year-end or early next year.
The fire department already has state-of-the-art gear like thermal imaging camera and hydraulic lift, which were imported from the Philippines a couple of years ago. Artificial respirator, steel-toed boots, underwater breathing compressors and aerial platform are also in stock.
However, all these are rarely put to use owing to an acute manpower crunch. Each fire tender needs to be manned by a minimum of six personnel — four firefighters, a havildar and the driver.
“Currently, we are making do with 50 per cent workforce on every fire tender. Again, 60 per cent of our personnel are inching towards retirement,” a senior fire official said.
The cabinet last week created 200 new posts for over a dozen new fire sub-divisions, but no one seems to know when all these vacancies will be filled up. “We had sent a proposal long ago. We can only hope it is done soon,” said Prasad.
Another official summed it up: “The government is taking positive steps, but its intention of overhauling the fire services will go in vain if the posts remain empty.”
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