Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) has formed an Emergency Rescue Squad consisting of college students in the city who will be trained to assistant fire personnel during emergencies.
On Wednesday, TNFRS Director R. Nataraj launched the first chapter of the squad at Jayagovind Harigopal Agarwal Agarsen College in Madhavaram here. “As a first step, we selected some students from the college and provided them basic fire-fighting training and handling rescue equipment. They will be given Fire Volunteer ID cards and affiliated to the fire station near their campus,” said Mr. Nataraj.
Twenty-five students, who were selected to the squad, demonstrated basic fire-fighting skills like use of water hosepipe, administering of first-aid and rescuing those trapped as part of the inaugural ceremony.
R. Sukumar, a second year BBA student from the college, termed the squad “a new and eye-opening initiative. I am very thrilled to be part of the squad that will provide training to help fire-fighters and also to handle any emergency situation with confidence,” he added.
A two-month training programme in advanced fire-fighting techniques for members of the squad, by TNFRS personnel, would commence soon.
TNFRS plans to form Emergency Rescue Squad in more colleges in the city mainly in north Chennai, from where more fire accidents are reported. Five more colleges from north Chennai have expressed interest to be part of the new initiative and have approached the TNFRS.
“Our target is to train 3,000 student volunteers and attach them to 292 fire stations across the city,” Mr. Nataraj added.
