City to get eight more fire stations

City to get eight more fire stations
Rashmi Menon , Bangalore, Oct 24, DHNS

With eight more fire stations sanctioned for the City, and 43 for the rest of the State, the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services is on expansion mode. But when will these materialise and will these be enough for a City growing exponentially every year?

Consider this: The Fire Department has only three motorcycles to quickly reach remote, inaccessible areas serviced only by roads so narrow that even autorickshaws find it tough to pass through. As it is, big fire tenders find it hard to negotiate even the wider roads, particularly during peak-hour traffic.

Confronted with these questions, the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Service director B G Changappa says, "It depends on the situation. It is not necessary to take the vehicle right to the spot. We can park the vehicle on the wider road and lay hosepipes and take it to the spot. The only thing is it is a bit time consuming, when the vehicle reaches closer to the spot, the more quickly you can act."
Besides these motorbikes, the department has three jeep mounted water hoses and 35 fire engines in the City.

If it's some consolation, the department is now in the process of finalising the draft for seven more motorbike water hoses for the City.

As for the safety equipment required by the firemen, he said that asking for sanction for equipment was a routine process.

However, he did not elaborate further on it.

New fire stations

The new fire stations will come up at Sarjapur Road, Hulimavu, Banashankari 6th stage, Nagarbhavi, Sunkadakatte in Magadi Road, Yelahanka, Whitefield and Devanahalli.
However, when these fire stations will be ready and operational is anyone's guess. Changappa, said, "It is not easy to set up a fire station. It is still in process." He said that the department will focus on setting up rescue equipment in certain key locations after the flood situation in north Karnataka.