From lost dog to personal fights,Panchkula dials fire dept

Adding to woes of the department is fact they don’t have a jeep or a car. So to attend the complaints they sometimes rush large fire engines. Officials say sometimes the people who call the helpline number even exaggerate issues forcing the personnel to run into a tizzy. The department gets about 7-8 complaints a month but none of them is for rescue works.

“People even call us for jobs like giving a cure to an injured dog or lifting the dead dog. While we don’t attend to such problems. In some cases people exaggerate the facts. Last time we thought there was a rescue effort required at a house. We got a call that due to rains their house has got flooded. We found that we couldn’t attend to the problem as our vehicle was not lifting the water and there was no rescue effort required,” said Fire Officer S S Malik.

Officials said they gets calls seeking their intervention in personal fights or handling accidents. “Some jobs don’t pertain to us,like attending a dead dog or in accidents,unless a rescue is required. Often when we reach the place,we find that we have nothing to do in the matter,” said Malik.

The Fire Officer has now asked higher officials to provide them a small vehicle to attend complaints. Malik said the civic officials are not bothered. “We have flagged the issue. Using smaller vehicles will also save fuel,” he said. Executive Officer,PMC,O P Sihag,said they will look into the matter.