By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 20: The department of Fire and Emergency Services (F&ES) is looking to suggest the state government to install fire hydrants in densely-populated areas, especially marketplaces, where big fire tenders cannot enter.
After a review meeting with senior officers at the conference room of the police headquarters here on Friday, Francis Kharshiing, who is the IG of F&ES, told reporters that F&ES can use fire hydrants to quickly connect to water and enable immediate firefighting efforts by someone at the scene.
He said this setup will be of great help to control fire while reinforcements are arriving. He also said that F&ES will get around 15 mini fire tenders as its proposal has been approved by the Centre.
“We can press these mini fire tenders in places with very narrow roads and lanes provided that the backup of large fire tenders is also readily available,” the IG of F&ES said.
He said the mini fire tenders have their advantages as well as disadvantages. They can hold a maximum of 2,000 litres of water compared to around 7,000 litres by a big fire tender.
According to him, the mini fire tenders will be useful for quick response in non-accessible areas.
Kharshiing said the department, which has 998 personnel at its disposal, lacks manpower. After the department had made a request for its augmentation, the state government agreed to provide around 126 Home Guards personnel to assist as firemen and drivers.
According to Kharshiing, 50-60 of them will be firemen and the remaining others drivers.
“This will definitely help augment manpower at the various fire stations,” he said, adding that 278 vacant posts are yet to be filled up.
“We expect to notify on filling up of these vacancies within three weeks’ time,” Kharshiing said.
The process of recruitment and training of personnel will take time before they are deployed to various fire stations, he added.
Kharshiing said the 107 personnel of the special rescue team have been drawn from the existing manpower of the department. He said this is another reason behind the dwindling number of F&ES personnel.
“Despite these shortages, I can say with full confidence that our officers and personnel are fully committed and ready for any eventualities,” he said.