Chennai: The fire control room personnel are used to these calls at this time of the year. So are rescue personnel, who, since Friday, rescued six cows that had sunk into flooded canals across the city. On Monday, the Ambattur fire station alone attended two calls, seeking their services in rescuing these animals. While the people managed to rescue a cow which went under water in Pattaravakkam before the rescuers arrived, the firemen’s presence helped save a buffalo’s life. “The buffalo was struggling in a 10-foot deep canal in the Outer Ring Road near Ambattur. Our personnel rescued it after people made calls to us, seeking our help,” said P.Pullani, SFO, Ambattur.
However, they were spared the task of attending to complaints they usually received about snakes during the rainy season, according to a senior fire official. The official noted that their personnel were not trained to catch snakes per se and a few incidents in the past had left them preferring to tread with caution while attending to such calls. Two years ago, in J.J. Nagar, a rescuer was bitten by a snake through the holes in the gunny sack into which it had been put.
“We are not provided with any special gear, we just make use of improvised equipment,” the official said.
Meanwhile, the fire personnel’s services were put to most use in clearing the many trees, which fell across the city notwithstanding the rains. Since Friday, the fire rescue personnel attended 18 calls across the city, asking them to clear fallen timber. “We worked in co-ordination with the civic body. Since it is easy to mobilise our teams which work round the clock, we engaged our teams in clearing trees,” Joint Director S. Vijayasekar said.
The department also assisted in dewatering two submerged areas, he added, using three 35 HP pumps.
