While the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation will spend an amount of Rs 1 crore on the construction of the new fire stations, it is yet to make arrangements to recruit more Station Fire Officers. At present, only two Station Fire Officers are looking after the seven fire stations.

Out of the proposed fire stations, one will come up at IT Park and another in Sectors 44/53/52. Residential accommodation will also be provided at both the stations. The new fire stations have been proposed in order to reduce the response time to attend fire calls from existing 12-15 minutes to less than 10 minutes, sources said.

According to the budget estimate for the year 2008-09, officials of Fire and Emergency Services have proposed to construct these two new fire stations in order to meet the requirements of the city describing the existing strength of seven fire stations as inadequate.

Officials have stated that southern sectors are thickly populated as compared to northern sectors as over the years city has expanded rapidly towards southern sectors. It has been stated that major fire incidents take place in congested areas and high rise buildings and due to increase in the volume of traffic, the response time for attending fire calls has increased from 8-10 minutes to 12-15 minutes in recent past.

In order to run the services smoothly in the new fire stations, the fire and emergency department has proposed the requirement of two sub-fire officers, eight leading firemen, 22 firemen, 12 drivers, besides a SO, a senior assistant and a clerk. However, the budget estimate has no proposal to fill the existing vacancy of Station Fire Officers in the department.