Eight years ago in the united Andhra Pradesh, the then government got the Agriculture Market Committees (AMCs) to allocate funds for the Fire Services Department to purchase fire engines for their exclusive use and provide sufficient office space within their respective compounds.
About 16 fire tenders were bought then, but because the government did not take any decision on recruiting fire personnel needed for manning the sanctioned fire stations or engines, the vehicles were used for other purposes depriving the AMCs of a disaster response force in case of a fire accident.
Last year, about 272 fire mishaps were reported in Telangana alone. At last, the TS Disaster Response & Fire Services Department has decided to fulfil a part of its responsibility as it got eight fire engines in the scheme. With bumper crop expected this year, senior fire officials are expecting the market yards to be closely stacked with cotton bales in the next couple of months.
Hence, it has drawn up an elaborate plan to take up an awareness and sensitisation campaign on fire prevention by organising meetings with cotton farmers and traders at ginning mills and market yards in Adilabad, Warangal, Karimnagar and Mahabubnagar districts.
“Cotton self-ignites because of gases trapped within while other reasons are short-circuit, careless smoking, etc. Each year, tonnes of material is perished in fire also due to the close stacking and this year we plan to sensitise them to keep at least one metre distance between each bale besides ensuring air circulation,” explain senior fire officials.
Colourful posters, stickers and pamphlets have been printed and these are to be distributed at 615 places, including 130 market yards across the State. “We just want to ensure that farmers do not lose their crop due to fire accidents. We are also taking up the issue of recruiting 160 personnel to man the fire stations and engines earmarked for market yards,” said Director General Rajiv Ratan, when contacted.
