Firemen get bulletproof jackets,not hi-tech firefighting equipment

Mumbais fire department recently acquired 100 bulletproof jackets for its men,some of whom came in the line of fire at the Taj on 26/11 while rescuing people and fighting the flames.

Written by Stuti Shukla

Mumbai | November 20, 2009 11:20 PM IST

2 min read

Mumbais fire department recently acquired 100 bulletproof jackets for its men,some of whom came in the line of fire at the Taj on 26/11 while rescuing people and fighting the flames.

In contrast,some state-of-the-art firefighting equipment is yet to arrive even a year after the department promised to acquire them. Among these are remote-controlled water monitors that can extinguish a fire from a distance. The fire brigade had decided to acquire six such monitors,one for each of its six regional command centres in the city.

Eleven months on,the acquisition is set for a further delay. Chief fire officer Uday Tatkare said the monitors would be available for use by January 2010,while other officials admitted that it would be March 2010 by the time these monitors are imported. The import will be from European companies at nearly Rs 4 lakh per monitor.

The gadget operates on radio frequency,comprising a water monitor mounted on a fire truck with a nozzle that can throw water at high pressure in horizontal and vertical directions. Water,either from fire hydrants on roads or from tanks on the truck,can be sprayed with force at a speed of three lakh liters per minute,even with the truck stationed 30 metres to 80 metres from the site of the fire.

When using a manual water monitor,proximity to the fire puts the firemans life at risk. When the remote controlled monitors are acquired,the firemen will not need to be close to the fire they are fighting, Tatkare said. The fire brigade currently has a total of 31 manual water monitors.

The fire brigade recently acquired from Finland a snorkel that can fight fires up to a height of 70 metres. With the help of this snorkel our firemen will be able to reach up to the 22nd floor from outside the building, Tatkare said. Earlier,the fire department could reach up to the 13th floor externally.

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Firemen get bulletproof jackets,not hi-tech firefighting equipment

Mumbais fire department recently acquired 100 bulletproof jackets for its men,some of whom came in the line of fire at the Taj on 26/11 while rescuing people and fighting the flames.

Mumbais fire department recently acquired 100 bulletproof jackets for its men,some of whom came in the line of fire at the Taj on 26/11 while rescuing people and fighting the flames.