That the department lacks communication devices was reaffirmed with the tragic fall of a woman from the fourth floor of the building when it caught fire.

While the sight was watched by many on live television, what went unnoticed was that after the fall, the woman was still alive and needed immediate medical attention.

The firemen on the higher floors, who noticed the woman fall, did not have adequate means to communicate the emergency to their men on the ground. And while they shouted from the top, their voices were lost in the din. The injured woman was later taken to hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.

The state firefighters do not even have wireless phones or the walkie-talkie to communicate and coordinate during any operation.

“We have requested our department authorities several times to provide the firefighters with communication devices, but to no avail. We use our personal mobile phones to convey messages in times of emergency,” said Gopal Bhattcharya, director, state fire and emergency services.

He added: “The use of mobile phones is neither reliable nor effective because at the fire spot, our mobiles don’t work and we invariably are unable to communicate or coordinate.”

A senior fire official added, “A few months ago, there was a fire in a tannery in Tangra in which a portion of the tannery caved in and six of our firefighters got trapped under the debris. For lack of devices, they could not communicate with their colleagues and it was only after an hour that they were rescued with critical injuries.”

Another problem that has cost the department dear is the irregular recruitment process that has resulted in an under-strength force comprising personnel mostly in their ‘50s, unfit to carry out such operations — a fact reaffirmed by their poor show in the Stephen Court rescue operation.

The state government also seems blinded to the fact that 1,640 posts of the total 4,540 posts for fire fighters/fire-operators are lying vacant since 2007. The last recruitment was done in June 2007 in which 500 fire operators were taken on board.