‘Have never let manpower shortage affect firefighting’

Four persons, including two minors, were killed in separate fire accidents in the city within a span of five hours on May 5 and 6. With the peak fire disaster season under way, Saurabh Trivedi sounds the alarm on issues affecting this essential service

May 07, 2018 01:30 am | Updated 07:38 am IST - NEW DELHI

A fire station at I. P. Extension in New Delhi.

A fire station at I. P. Extension in New Delhi.

The first three months of 2018 saw four major incidents of fire in the city that resulted in the deaths of 27 people. The biggest incident was a blaze at a firecracker storage unit in outer Delhi’s Bawana industrial area on January 20, which left 17 dead and two injured.

Besides fire accidents, the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) is among the first responders in incidents involving wall and building collapse, drowning and road accidents in the city.

“There are 61 fire stations in the city under two categories — single and double engines. The location of each station depends on distance from industrial and residential areas,” a fire official said.

 

Staff crunch

Despite 42% shortage in manpower, a DFS official said, they have never let staff crunch affect firefighting operations. The sanctioned personnel strength is 3,619, which includes 3,375 operational staff members, but the department currently has only 2,077 staffers, including 1,911 in the operational wing.

A fireman deployed at Geeta Colony fire station explained, “We have two fire engines at the Geeta Colony station but can use only one at a time due to staff shortage. We receive nearly seven fire-related calls daily.”

The DFS manual dictates that each fire station should have one sub-officer, two senior firemen, two drivers and 10 firemen. Also, few staffers are kept on standby or reserve at each station.

A snorkel fire truck negotiates traffic at Connaught Place.

(Left) A fire station at I. P. Extension in New Delhi. (Above) A snorkel fire truck negotiates traffic at Connaught Place.

 

Retirements

The shortage, an official said, is due to retirements and lack of fresh recruitments. The DFS was under the unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi till 1995 and all recruitments took place directly. However, the service later came under the control of the Delhi government and the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) was appointed as the recruitment agency.

“We have sent requests for new recruits but it is up to the DSSSB to approve the strength,” said an official.

Another problem affecting recruitments is the pace of the hiring process. Applicants who clear the preliminary examination join other services for which they had applied simultaneously and the hiring procedure was faster. Due to such ‘dropouts’, the recruitment process for fresh candidates has to be redone from the start.

‘Under stress’

A fireman who has been with the DFS since the past 12 years said: “Due to manpower shortage, we work two shifts in case of a big fire. Firemen are always under stress and overburdened. The work schedule states that a fireman should take the day off after working for 24 hours. However, it is difficult to follow that schedule at present. At times firemen end up working on their days off and even staying on duty for 72 hours.”

Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Atul Garg said: “We usually attend around 100 fire calls per day at 61 fire stations in the city. The number is higher during summer. The men work long hours but manpower shortage has never affected firefighting operations.”

He said formalities to fill 841 vacancies of fire operators (who are hired for the dual role of firefighting and driving) and drivers are almost complete, and new recruits are set to join the department soon.

From April 2017 to March 2018, the department received 29,423 calls and 318 died in incidents related to fire, road accidents, house collapse and drowning.

“From April-June, we receive around 7,000 calls,” a fireman added.

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