Fire Dept under fire in Shimla

Bhanu P Lohumi

Despite the government making tall claims about the Fire Department being well-equipped in saving heritage buildings and other properties in Shimla, periodic fire incidents continue to be reported in the erstwhile summer capital of British India, also known as the Queen of the Hills.

Every time, either the fire tenders arrive late or hydrants run dry or low water pressure is blamed. 

In the recent fire incident that gutted the Mayo block of the heritage Grand Hotel, fire hydrants in front of the hotel were not working and there was not enough pressure of water, despite the fact that the spot was located just 500 m away from the main water tank on The Ridge, eye witnesses said. According to experts, fire tenders should be provided with snorkels and other equipment, which could throw water with pressure up to 500 yards and a number of fire tenders with stored water should be increased to fight the blaze immediately.

The Fire Department and the Disaster Management Department conduct mock drills regularly, but failures surface whenever a major fire erupts. Why fire hydrants are not checked regularly to ensure that there is sufficient water pressure in pipelines is a big question.

Old buildings are more vulnerable to fire, but no separate plan has been put in place to protect the buildings and mushrooming of concrete structures, choking passages and hampering the smooth movement of fire tenders causing delays. 

Further, things have become worse by making unnecessary alterations in old buildings. Almost all old buildings, which were originally fire-proof, have been made vulnerable to fire by panelling the interiors with timber and using highly inflammable paints and varnish.

Ensuring round-the-clock water supply to fire hydrants, creating awareness among people about fire-safety measures, raising fire-fighting squad in every locality and conducting regular joint exercises involving the police, firemen and municipal staff to ensure proper coordination are some other steps required to effectively combat the menace of winter fires. However, the officials concerned maintain that fire stations are equipped to deal with any emergency in the state capital and the city has been distributed in three zones namely the Mall Road, Chotta Shimla and Boileaugang.

There are over 83 fire personnel, including station officer, sub-station officers, leading firemen and firemen and total 841 staff in the state. Six fire tenders, two in each station, two quick response vehicles (jeep) and two bikes carrying compressed air foam system to douse fire, where vehicles cannot reach, are available in Shimla town.

Hydrants play a vital role in dousing fire and there are 638 hydrants available in the town, which includes 244 in area covered under The Mall Road, 225 in Chhota Shimla and 169 in Boileauganj. Water is taken from hydrants, put in fire tenders and pumped with pressure to douse the fire. “Whenever there is a call from the owners of heritage structures or occupancy buildings, we depute our people who go to the site, see the risk factor and give recommendations,” says Chief Fire Officer JC Sharma. Short-circuit is cited as the main reason for fires in Shimla and as buildings are made of wood, they are engulfed in flames in no time.