Fire stations
* There are 106 fire service stations in West Bengal.
* 7 more are under construction at Ghatal, Kaliagung, Dalkhola, Egra, Gobardanga, Dankuni and Rajarhat
* 12 new stations proposed in various districts
Firefighters
Staff Strength: 10,000 firefighters, including drivers
Fire tenders: 392
Women firefighters
* For the first time, the state government is going on a recruitment spree to employ women as firefighters in the Fire and Emergency Services department. The department has contacted all district employment exchanges to select candidates who meet the requirements of the department
FUTURE PLAN
* The Fire Minister plans to spend Rs 45 crore to procure new gadgets for the department. He admits that the department lacks modern gadgets
Major fires this year
April 2008: A cylinder explosion gutted the Mullickghat market, Asia’s biggest flower market. Property worth crores of rupees was destroyed and 25,000 workers became jobless. Easy availability of water helped douse the flames in time. As many as 18 fire tenders that were pressed into service had to struggle for quite some time to control the blaze. With the fire spreading towards the Kolkata Port Trust, it had to deploy its own fire tenders.
March 2008: A blaze off the bypass in Tiljala ravaged 750 shanties and rendered around 2,000 people homeless. While no casualty was reported, 25 fire tenders were used to douse the flames in the Uttar Panchannagram slum. Unauthorised storage of LPG cylinders in the shanties caused the fire.
February 2008: Property worth Rs 5 crore was gutted in a fire at a leather-manufacturing unit at Kasba Industrial Estate. It took 24 fire tenders and nearly six hours to bring the fire under control. The leather factory, XL Enterprises Ltd, was completely destroyed. No casualty was reported.
January 2008: A fire broke out in Tripalpatti, a market famous for tarpaulin sheets trade, in Burrabazar. The fire soon spread to the 14-storey Nandaram market complex and seven other buildings, bringing down a portion of one of the smaller buildings. Besides over 45 fire tenders from the state’s fire services department, seven from the Army and Air Force bases were also pressed into service to douse the flames.
Gadgets to be procured
* 2 rescue tenders for Rs 3 crore
* 30 fire jeeps for Rs 2.85 crore
* 101 single-layer firefighting suits for Rs 1.5 crore
* 103 three-layer suits for Rs 5 crore
* 50 breathing apparatus for Rs 3.4 crore
* One 70m heaith hydraulic sky lift for Rs 12.5 crore
* Two de-watering pumps for Rs 50 lakh
*n 12 bouzers for Rs 8 crore
The department has got Rs 12.5 crore from the state government and Rs 10 crore from the Government of India.
In the pipeline
* Appointment of 50 women firefighters
* Creation of a special force with personnel trainied in more specialised firefighting
* A dedicated Fire Engineering College of international standards at Kalyani within two years. Students graduating from the college will be awarded bachelors degree in fire engineering
Fire prevention exercises
* Regular fire safety drills at malls, schools and IT offices
* Working in collaboration with disaster management authority
* To check fire safety measures in all KMC markets and give recommendations