Personnel of the Department of Fire and Rescue have geared up to respond to emergency calls during the Deepavali weekend. Over 900 personnel will be deployed on round-the-clock duty for three days starting from Friday in the city.
M. Shahul Hameed, Joint Director - Northern Region, told The Hindu, “ During the festival of lights every year, the department mobilises vehicles and appoints personnel on standby duty at fire susceptible areas. A total of 39 fire stations are ready to tackle any emergency and our personnel will be doing round-the-clock service for three days from October 28 to 30.”
As many as 34 spots in the city and suburbs have been identified by the Fire and Rescue Services Department as vulnerable during the Deepavali season. Hence, the department will set up outposts with personnel. Such outposts will be set up at Panagal Park, Esplanade, Tambaram, Velachery and other places. Patrolling will also be done at vulnerable areas based on the earlier fire call statistics.
Mr. Hameed said 90 vehicles will be stationed in the city during three days.
To prevent fire accidents and injuries during Deepavali, the department has organised awareness drives. Pamphlets are distributed and hoardings displayed at prominent public places, so as to ensure that fire accidents are reduced to a minimum.
In order to facilitate quick communication and response for any emergency, every station is provided with a telephone. All stations are connected with the toll free number 101.
Control room
A modern fire control room with toll free telephone numbers 101 and 102 is functioning in the city. On receipt of a call from the public on the toll free number, the jurisdictional Fire and Rescue Services Station will be alerted and the vehicle with crew will be dispatched to the place of incident. Wireless communication sets connecting all vehicles and stations are available for Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram.
The officials also said a quick response time is one of the key determiners of the efficiency of Fire and Rescue Services Department.
Response time
The department constantly strives to reduce the response time in the event of a fire and rescue situation. In Chennai city, the targeted response time is approximately six minutes.
As many as 34 spots in the city and suburbs have been identified by the
fire department
