‘Sirens have not stopped ringing all May’: With water and sweat, Delhi fire fighters battle the spurt in blazes

Suddenly, there is a flurry of activity in the fire control room. Connaught Place fire station is the biggest and the busiest in Delhi. On Wednesday, it received 220 fire calls, 12 more than Diwali last year.

It is 2.30pm when the siren starts blaring through the barracks of the firemen. Five personnel rush down the stairs, pulling their uniforms on and clambering onto a firetruck – a huge red water bowser. Soon, the fire truck is speeding to reach its destination. There is a traffic jam in ITO. Inderveer (53), a sub-officer, speaks in a stern voice into the loudspeaker: “Raaste se hatt jayein please (please move out of the way).” He keeps on repeating his words loudly. Inderveer has been in fire services for 33 years.

“Sometimes, it takes us 15 minutes to only get out of the Barakhamba area,” he says. “Apart from traffic congestion, narrow lanes are another obstacle. Thankfully, our pipes can stretch up to some distance these days,” he adds.

This month has been the most hectic for the Delhi Fire Services (DFS). With 261 calls logged on May 28, Delhi surpassed the number of calls it reported to the DFS last year during Diwali (208). “This May has been the busiest…perhaps the busiest we have been in the last 30 years,” says Additional Divisional Officer, Somvir Singh.

While on an average, the fire control room would log between three and four calls an hour during the peak season, this year has seen the number ratchet up to seven calls an hour. “In the Wazirabad fire station, the siren probably hasn’t stopped ringing since the beginning of May,” said Wazirabad Station Officer, Vijay Dahiya.

The stretch to reach the storage grounds in Wazirabad Police Academy is 18.5 kms.

The DFS currently employs 3,200 staff members across Delhi, with 2,300 on field and 900 in training. “That’s not nearly enough,” an officer said, “We need double the men on ground, at least.” The DFS also faces a severe shortage of Station Officers, with almost 70% posts lying vacant. “Lack of incentives,” an officer explains. “Ranks below Station Officer still get perks like Rs 4,000 ration allowance, Rs 8,000 annual bonus and a month’s additional pay. But once promoted to become a Station officer, these incentives vanish even as the work hours increase,’” he says. “Station Officers have to stay on 72-hour uninterrupted shifts. The ranks below have a 24-hour duty shift.”

After mere 17 minutes on the road, the fire truck finally pulls into Wazirabad Police Academy. There are already other fire trucks which have arrived from Jahangir Puri, Shastri Park, Roop Nagar and Wazirabad Fire Stations.

There are around 15 firemen on the job here.

The road towards the storage grounds is, however, lined with carcasses of motorcycles, cars, e-rickshaws and auto-rickshaws. At a few places, the cars are stacked upon one another, creating towers of hollow metal. In the distance, there is a thick plume of black smoke billowing in the already dusty air. Several cars and tempos are on fire and there are small explosions every few minutes. “It is a deadly combination…this heat and the petrol and CNG left behind in these cars,” says Rajbir, 51, a fireman who didn’t give his last name. He is posted at Jahangirpuri Fire Station.

The air around the cars glimmer in the heat and the firemen wipe sweat and grime off their faces. A few pour water from bottles and splash on their faces. “Heat exhaustion is a big issue for us…sometimes, we need to send our men to the hospital after a day’s work. The uniform is also thick. At times, we pour water on ourselves to keep ourselves cool,” Somvir Singh adds. Even inside the trucks, the firemen receive no respite. Not equipped with ACs, the insides of the trucks almost burn in the 40-plus degree heat. “We feel like we’re getting boiled when we step inside the trucks,” says Inderveer.

Yet, these firemen are happy with their work. “It’s a steady job, with a steady paycheck…I get to stay with my family, too,” says Ramtirath (58), a fireman who initially applied for the SSB but decided to stay put once his job with the DFS came through. “Someone has to do this job. If we won’t, who will?” says fireman Rajbir.

The fire at the storage ground, meanwhile, has been put out but the fire men continue to pour water. “It needs to fully cool down,” a fireman says, adding, “Otherwise we’ll have to come back again later in the night.”