Fire brigade in Mumbai will douse fires with gutter water

In the times of water crisis, there is no drought of ideas in the fire brigade, which has decided to tap into alternative sources of water to douse fires, including that flowing in the city’s gutters.

After being instructed by the civic body to dig bore wells to meet its water requirements, the department is considering drawing water from the drains, ponds, underground static tanks, and even sewage water to fight fires.

“All we want is water. We are only concerned with the source. It could be from a nallah or even gutter water. We have a suction hose to draw water from any source which we use to prevent infernos or havoc during emergencies,” said Hasan Mujawar, deputy chief fire officer.

Mujawar said that water from tanks present in gardens and museums built during the British rule will also be utilised in emergencies. The recent fire at Indira Nagar in Kurla was doused using water from the nallah in Mithi River, he said.

“We sometimes even use sea water. Earlier, water was sourced from filling stations connected directly to the mains in Bhandup. At the moment, the fire brigade has 16,000 litres of tanker water stored,” he said.

Other measures taken by the fire department are usage of mist fire extinguishers as they are better equipped to fight fire and require 80% less water than normal fire-fighting equipment.