Kochi: A modern fire station at the state’s industrial hub of Eloor was launched on Monday. Education Minister C. Raveendranath inaugurated the Rs 3-crore building at Pathalam Junction. So far the Fire Force unit was functioning out of a hall of an old building at Anavathil Junction along the container Road with no facilities to store fire-fighting equipment. The station, located in the industrial hub of Kochi, had received over 225 distress calls last year alone. However, it has no equipment to fight chemical explosions and only has two fire engines, one of which is over 15 years old. The new building with 10,500 sqft floor area has a tank to store one-lakh litres of water, six rooms and space to park six fire engines. Officials are in the hope of receiving modern equipment in the coming months.
“The construction of another modern fire station at North Paravur has reached its final stage,” a senior official of the Fire and Rescue department said. Though the building work was completed over 10 months back, the Kerala State Electricity Board started wiring job only after the painting works were completed. Besides additional expenditure, it delayed the launch. The foundation stone for the building at Eloor Pathalam Junction was laid by former Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala in February 2016.
