The fire department has handpicked 30 of its best fire personnel to form teams of ten each for the Island city, Western and Eastern suburban divisions.

Over the last month, the team has been receiving training in the rocky terrains of Kamshet and at the Kanheri caves, assisted by trainers from French firm Petzl.

“During the 2004 Sagar Sangeet fire at Colaba when the top floor of the 32-storey building was in flames, fire fighters had to physically lug a 100 kg pump all the way up the building. High-rise rescue is not all about using tall ladders. For the first time we will be having this select team that will be trained in all kinds of rope-rescue techniques,’’ said Pratap Karguppikar, deputy fire officer in charge of the team.

The fire brigade will also soon procure a special protection suit that can withstand temperatures of up to 300 degree Celsius for each member of the team as against the rudimentary woolen clothing used for such operations until now. Wrapped in the suit and with a backpack strapped on, the fire fighting personnel will be trained to climb up ropes anchored to the floor on fire. The backpack will contain a 10-litre portable tank. “Since the fire man has to climb up all the way carrying the load, we will make use of the mist technology wherein the10-litre tank will be as good as a 10,000-litre one when it comes to water pressure levels,” added Karguppikar.

The role of the existing high-rise cell of the fire brigade is limited to periodically inspecting high-rises (over 24 metres in height or seven storeys) and submitting reports on the fire safety measures in place. However, the fire department has no specialised training in rescuing people from skyscrapers.

Each of the 33 fire stations in the city is equipped with a fire ladder ranging from 30 metres to 42 metres. The only 60-metre hydraulic platform that can reach up to 20 floors is stationed in the fire brigade headquarters at Byculla.