Jan. 25: Bipin Ganatra, 60, is there whenever and wherever there is a fire in the city.

The electrician by profession with no formal firefighting training has been seen beside firemen dousing flames or rescuing people for the past 40 years.

Today, Ganatra's burning desire to help people caught in a fire got central recognition when his name was announced for this year's Padma Shri.

"I feel proud and honoured. But more than that I feel my work from now on has to be such that the honour bestowed on me is never belittled," Ganatra told Metro this evening.

This newspaper had first reported about him when he worked with firemen to douse the Firpo's fire in 2002.

Last April, Ganatra received the True Legends Awards 2016, Calcutta, presented by 100 Pipers Music CDs, in association with The Telegraph.

He has returned from the jaws of death at least once - he got trapped when a portion of a warehouse on Strand Road collapsed after a fire broke out in the building.

But that couldn't deter Ganatra. He was back to firefighting the next time a fire broke out.

So, what about the fire brigade? Firemen are more than happy to see Ganatra in a fire scene. A helmet and a pair of gumboots are all that the man needs to rush into a building on fire.

His work (Bowbazar blast, Manohar Das Katra, Firpo's, Nandram market, Stephen Court, AMRI) has made him a hero among city firemen.

No one knows how Ganatra gets to know of a fire but he is always there on the spot, a fireman said.

Ganatra also manages traffic as well as crowd during the Puja or on New Year's Eve.

He lost his brother to a fire many years back but he had clarified in an earlier interview it wasn't the reason behind his passion for firefighting.

Ganatra, who is unmarried, lives with his two sisters near Colootala. "I am now old. I cannot work as an electrician anymore." But that won't stop him if a fire breaks out. He would be there training a hosepipe on the flames or rescuing the trapped or taking the injured to hospital.