Pune firefighters get Royal Enfields to zip through heavy traffic

The fire brigade has obtained a fleet of six new Royal Enfield Bullet bikes from Aska Equipment at a cost of Rs42 lakh. This will help save water and pass faster through narrow city lanes.

Prashant Ranpise, chief fire officer of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) said, “The bikes that we have bought have reached our Bhawani Peth central office. We are waiting for completion of all paper work and registration. The bikes have been specially procured to reach congested places where big vehicles would take time.”

To conserve water, the motorcycle-mounted configuration uses two backpack type fire extinguishers. These have capacity of 10 litres. A water mist-based firefighting system is being used in the spray of the tanks. This utilises a very fine water spray to extinguish the fire.

Ranpise said, “The water mist, when used in firefighting systems, creates a blanket, making the atmosphere  around the fire inert. This results in effective and rapid fire extinguishing. The compressed air foam used along with water mist enhances the fire extinguishing power.”

The registration of these vehicles at the regional transport office would be done by Aska Equipment and the bikes will be available for use soon, added the fire officer.