Hyderabad: The Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services Department has got a boost with seven Enfield Bullets, mounted with basic fire-fighting equipment, being added to its kitty.
Each 350CC Electra bikes are fitted with a nine-litre canister of mist, equivalent to 100 liter of water, and a nine-litre canister of compressed air foam. They are part of the Rapid Response Team launched around 15 days ago.
“The RRT is turning out to be very helpful on two fronts: cutting down on the response time taken to reach the spot and operating in areas where the 18-20 ton heavy fire tenders can’t reach,” said DG Fire Services Mr Rajiv Ratan.
If a fire truck takes 10 minutes to answer a call, a bike will reach within five minutes. In some areas of the Old City, where it’s impossible for a tender to enter, a bike can be a lifesaver.
Nearly 30 fire and rescue calls have been attended in the last week alone. The equipment weighs around 54 kg and every bike will have two fire personnel, attending the fire.
“We are handling around two-three fire calls per day. The public has been very cooperative about this initiative,” said Mr S. Sreekanth and Mr K. Sampath, who are deployed as the RRT team at the Assembly fire station.
“Soon, the bikes will be equipped with basic first-aid kits which can help give preliminary medication to victims in case of severe burns,” added Mr Ratan.
The department plans to equip Hyderabad with 100 such bikes by the end of 2015. It will be expanded to other major towns subsequently.
The department is now looking to the government to sanction funds to buy more bikes.
“Each bike will cost Rs 5 lakh and around 12 bikes can be purchased with the amount that is spent to buy one fully equipped fire truck. It will be a fruitful way to spend the taxpayers money to render services to them,” Mr Ratan said.
