Mumbai: Revive 10000 fire hydrants - Committee

Pointing to lacunae in the functioning of the fire brigade, a state legislative committee has sought revival of over 10,000 colonial-era fire hydrants to aid fire-fighting. The public accounts committee (PAC) has called for mandatory installation of internal fire-fighting systems in buildings and training residents for primary response during an emergency.

The committee has sought earmarking of land for construction of fire stations in proportion to the number of new buildings that are given permissions.

"Mumbai has around 10,470 fire hydrants since the pre-Independence era. However, only 1,131 of these are functional. The hydrants are not working due to various reasons including encroachment by slums, valves being stolen or subsumed by roads, and non-availability of water. The hydrants are not supplied with water round-the-clock," said the report of the PAC, which is headed by Congress legislator Gopalas Agarwal, and was submitted to the state legislature on Thursday.

It observed that non-functional hydrants in the premises had led to fire-fighting operations being affected in operations during the Garib Nagar at Bandra (2011), Mantralaya (June 2012) and Lotus Neelkamal at Andheri (July 2014) fires.

While the fire brigade claimed that they are trying alternate ways like increasing the number of water filling stations, the PAC stressed it was necessary to revive natural water sources. It added that the wells in the city, which had gradually been reclaimed, be revived for fire-fighting and a portion of water in over-head tanks in tall buildings be reserved for the purpose. Some water filling stations can be reserved only for fire brigade vehicles.

The high-rises in the city, narrow roads, ever-increasing population, traffic jams, and illegal constructions and encroachments, have affected the response time of the fire brigade. The PAC noted that the high-rises lacked modern fire-fighting equipment, and the fire brigade does not have evacuation equipment, to reach buildings above a certain height, which leads to casualties.

Though fire audits of buildings had been launched, just serving notices to defaulting establishments would not suffice. The PAC urged that the municipal corporation must conduct re-checks to verify if compliances have been made, and added that the fire brigade get a helicopter for aerial fire-fighting.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had pointed to how the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006, which seeks the fire safety audit of buildings was not being implemented in the state, barring few exceptions in Mumbai and Thane.

The PAC also suggested measures to streamline the working of the fire brigade and flagged shortcomings including lack of adequate training for fire department staff in various civic bodies.

Suggestions

• The PAC has called for mandatory installation of internal fire-fighting systems in buildings 
• It has sought for earmarking of land for construction of fire stations in proportion to the number of new buildings