On May 26, 2020, Nargis Begam, ran for her life when a fire engulfed her JJ colony in Tughlaqabad. The fire gutted 250 shanties, including hers, and rendered over 1,000 people homeless. It still haunts the 33-year-old.
Cut to 2022. Ms. Begam is trained in basic firefighting techniques and is in a position to face such an eventually without panicking. “I enrolled myself in a training programme by Delhi Fire Service (DFS) to assist firefighters when fires break out,” she said.
She is one of the 200 women who underwent training earlier this month to learn about the reasons for fires, some basic techniques to handle such situations along with the Do’s and Don’ts of fire safety measures.
The Fire Department, BSES and Mehar Charitable Trust, an NGO, signed a Memorandum of Understanding earlier this month with an idea to create awareness and train people to control fire incidents using the available resources at home.
Upon completing the training, every woman is given a ‘Main bhi firefighter hoon’ (I too am a firefighter) certificate. The DFS has so far trained two batches of 200 women each from two JJ colonies.
“I can now teach others how to tackle such situations,” Begam says.
Prone to accidents
The LPG cylinder explosion-led fire that reduced the Tughlaqabad JJ cluster to ashes, took several hours to put out. But according to DFS Chief Atul Garg, “controlling the panic among residents was tougher.”
According to a fire officer, many JJ colonies, such as the one at Tughlakabad, are prone to blazes as the residents there store inflammable materials such as polythene and wood inside their homes. Moreover, the narrow approach lanes often make it difficult for the firefighters to navigate and reach the spot with the equipment for timely action.
Mr. Garg said a detailed record of every woman trained in basic firefighting techniques will be maintained by the DFS so that they can be called for help during emergencies.
“The purpose is to make the women feel confident and help fire tenders reach the spot by guiding them about alternate routes in case of emergencies. The trained women can also help by clearing the roads for DFS vehicles and also apprise the firefighters of the nearest sources of water,” he added.
Bhawna Anand, 28, a resident of a JJ colony in Kalkaji, says her training was necessary considering the nature of her employment. Employed with an event management company, Ms. Anand handles cylinders and electrical switches, among other things, on a regular basis.
During her training at Govindpuri, Ms. Anand was taught how to use a cylinder responsibly, tackle a regulator blast or a gas leak, and use electricity switches safely.
“I now know how to douse fires related to cylinder leak and short-circuits. I now feel confident about handling fire-related situations,” she said.
Training them
“Once they are clear about the reasons, they are taught measures to control it. "We will ensure that after their training, women will be able to do regular checks in their clusters,” Harita Mehta of Mehar Charitable Trust said.
The NGO, in coordination with the DFS, plans to reach out to women through Residential Welfare Associations in all the JJ clusters across the city.
“We are focusing on resources available at home including sand and water. We also plan to provide fire extinguishers to women in JJ colonies,” Ms. Mehta said, adding that the Mundka fire, which claimed the lives of 27 people, prompted them to come up with the idea for this initiative.
