Ceasefire for city with 192 new firemen

Requirements

At present, firemen work overtime to compensate for the staff shortage. The present strength of MFB is below 3,000 fire personnel and the BMC has been shelling out around Rs 50 lakh a year for the past few years as overtime remuneration.

"Ideally, there should be a fire station every 4 km, enabling firemen to reach the accident spot within four minutes. But in Mumbai, there's a fire station approximately every 13 km. Moreover, as per the international norms, metropolitan cities should have one fire station for every 50,000 residents, whereas Mumbai has one for about 2.5 lakh residents," said a fire official.

33
The number of fire stations in Mumbai

Change for the better

To upgrade the department, the fire brigade's recent purchases includes thermal imaging cameras, power operated chain saw, three-layer fire proximity suits, hosepipes, small fire tender, recovery van, air compressor, etc. Six regional command centres, which will essentially be new fire stations at Deonar, Vikroli, Marol, Byculla, Wadala and Borivli that are being constructed at a cost of Rs 66.46 crore. There will also be 17 new fire engines.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade will soon get a hi-tech communication channel in the form of radio trunking system, enabling it to coordinate better in times of disaster. The wireless system will allow firemen to communicate with 25 people at a time instead of the existing one-to-one communication. MFB will purchase 400 radio trunking devices. The total cost of the project will be Rs 8.12 crore.

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