Hyderabad: Successive governments have not bothered with infrastructural additions to the State Disaster Response and Fire Services.
As per the Standing Fire Advisory Council guidelines, there should be 160 fire stations in the Greater Hyderabad limits, but currently, there are only 18 operational fire stations.
“Even if the current number is doubled and at least 20 more fire stations are set up, the response time will be reduced by a great deal,” said a senior official from the fire department.
In 2013, five fire stations were added in the city. There are nearly 10 pending proposals for new fire stations. Two fire stations, one at Cherlapally and another at Genome valley, were cleared last year, but they are still in the sanctioning stage.
Telangana has less than 100 fire stations in the state, and 23 of its Assembly constituencies don’t have a single station.
Officials said that fire-fighting teams were always prepared to handle accidents, but the time taken by a fire tender to reach the spot depended on the location of the station and also on traffic conditions.
Most fire stations do not have their own borewells or water tanks. The capacity of one fire tender is 4,500 litre, which gets exhausted in around eight minutes. It has to then go to the nearest government water supply point to fill up.
“We had recommended borewells at all fire stations and a water tank with a capacity of 25,000 litres. Only two have these facilities now,” said the official.
Also, the current staff strength is not sufficient for the existing stations and if new stations are to come up, recruitments must be taken up.
“It has to be understood that there is a limitation on cost that can be incurred and manpower that can be put in a place. New stations can’t be set up overnight,” the official said.
