Posts at 20 hotels housing delegates, convention centre: Delhi’s fire dept gears up for G20

Officials said they have not received the list of hotels yet but have been told most of them are in the Lutyens’ zone, New Delhi and South Delhi areas. “Once the list comes, we will conduct a fire safety inspection of fire exits, extinguishers and alarms in every room, fire NOC and other requirements in these hotels. Besides, a fire post will be set up on the premises of these hotels,” said officials.

The fire post is expected to have one fire tender, a water tender, around four firemen/fire staff, fire simulator. They will be on standby 24×7 till delegates leave, said Garg. “We also have plans to procure more equipment for fire stations ahead of the Summit. Arrangements have also been made at ITPO Pragati Maidan where the summit will take place,” officials added.

Meanwhile, the department is planning to upgrade its 64 fire stations which will be done by the Public Works Department. “Several buildings are already in poor shape and in need of repair. As the G20 Summit is also approaching, we want to expedite work. We have asked the PWD to float tenders,” said Garg.

A PWD official said, “We have floated tenders following the request of DFS. Work will start soon and the target is to complete it before the G20 summit.”

The DFS has around 64 fire stations including the headquarters in Connaught Place and Fire Safety Management Academy in Rohini. The fire stations are divided into three zones: New Delhi, South, and West. Further, as per the DFS website, the department has a fleet of 245 fire-fighting vehicles and other supporting units.