No guns, no protection, yet they stood in the line of fire
Mumbai's fire brigade personnel, unprotected by bullet-proof jackets and completely unarmed, deserve as much applause as the NSG and naval commandos, the army jawans, and policemen for their role in fighting fidayeen terror.
"Some people had jumped from the Radio club end of the first and second floor of the Taj and hurt themselves. Others tried to use window curtains to abseil to safety. Despite the advice of the police to not risk our lives by undertaking fire fighting immediately, we decided to proceed with the rescue operation," said Uday Tatkare, the deputy fire officer, Chembur.
Leading by example
On Wednesday, Tatkare, second in the city fire brigade hierarchy, himself manned the Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP), which allowed two NSG commandos to be on the same level as the terrorists holed up on the first floor of the Taj.
"The ladder platform, which stood 42 metres above ground-level, was needed during the NSG's last phase of assault because there was no building from which they could aim at the first floor. I wore a bullet-proof jacket in the seven-odd hours I manned the ALP. The NSG finally eliminated two terrorists," Tatkare said.
On Friday, it was under the cover given by Assistant Divisional Fire Officer S G Amin and his team comprising F D'souza and fire engine driver Upendra Tambe from the Fort fire station that the NSG entered the Taj. "Tambe volunteered to lead the fire engine to dose the fire caused by a terrorist grenade. None of us had any protective gear on," said Amin.
Fire brigade's bravery in numbers 500, the number of people rescued by the fire brigade from the Taj 200, the number of firemen who undertook the operation at various terror sites 2, the number of bullet-proof jackets the firemen had between them 6, the number ALPs used during the terror operations
