City to deploy smaller firefighting vehicles

After the plans of creating eight helipads to airlift patients comes one more from the BBMP to rapidly put out fires in the city.

The civic body has decided to deploy Quick Response Vehicles (QRVs) in all wards to instantly snuff out blazes. The kind of vehicles pressed into service would range from pickup trucks to Tempo Travellers, Jeeps or bikes that could haul water tanks of different capacities and jet pressure to traverse through narrow lanes and heavy traffic.

Besides floating a tender to procure the vehicles, the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services Department has written to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike asking for land to set up the fire stations.

"We currently have just 20 QRVs in the existing fire stations," N R  Markandeya, deputy director of Fire and Emergency Services, informed DH. "Since the city is growing rapidly, we need more QRVs."

Mayor R Sampath Raj told this newspaper that the need for quick and nimble fleet of fire engines was growing due to increasingly dense traffic and an extending web of narrow roads. "According to the fire department, big fire engines cannot enter such areas," he added.

The rapidly expanding city infrastructure and growing population also necessitate QRVs in all wards. "Regulation states there should be a fire station within a two-km radius, but the city currently has just 20,"  he pointed out.

The fire department states that the smaller vehicles can be fitted with water tanks of 50 to 100 litre capacities with one jet pressure equipment slotted in. Such vehicles would be capable of putting out smaller to medium-intensity blazes.  

DH News Service