Water bowser to further power up Udupi fire station

The existing fleet of fire tenders in Udupi district Fire station will be strengthened soon with the addition of a water bowser equipped with a sky ladder and a water tank of 16000-L capacity, District Fire Officer (DFO) Vasanth Kumar said.

“The water bowser which has a sky ladder is available in Mangaluru fire stations, and we are expected to get one in the coming months,” Kumar told DH.

Disasters come unannounced and thus the objective is to minimise its impact by planning ahead, the DFO added.

The main fire station, located in Brahmagiri, has QRV (Quick Response Vehicle) which contains 500 litres of water plus 50 litres of foam, and two water tenders with 5,000-L capacity.

Udupi Taluk Fire Office has QRV and ‘Agni’ (a bullet bike) that have been incorporated with advanced firefighting technology and two portable fire extinguishers.

The fire vehicles are dispatched from the station within 30 seconds of receiving a distress call on the two emergency numbers (101 and 0820-2520333). The QRV, given its small size, is the first to reach the site of emergency in the town, closely followed by water tenders, he added.

“Karkala fire substation has one water tender, one water truck and ‘Agni’; Kundapur substation has two water tenders and one ‘Agni’ while Malpe has one water tender. In addition to this, there are rescue tools like petrol-based chainsaw and hydraulic equipment, and a rescue van,’’ he added.

In case of floods, rescue equipment like life jackets and life bags are provided to the stations by deputy commissioner. The district also has three boats in Udupi taluk station, one each in Malpe and Karkala and two in Kundapur. That apart every station has a boat with outboard motor.

In 2018, 281 people in Kundapur and 250 people in Udupi were rescued and shifted to a safer locations during floods.

Kumar said that there are a total of 80 employees, including fire officers, drivers and firefighters in Udupi district Fire Office and 25 employees in Udupi Taluk Fire Station.

Firefighters, trained in very aspects of fire and rescue services at RA Fire Academy Service in Bengaluru, work in two shifts, from 9 am to 5 pm and from 5 pm to 9 am.

“Besides firefighters, nearly 40% of employees in a company or a firm should have undergone training in fire safety in Mangaluru in order to get a fire-safety clearance,” said Kumar.

Aasline Venitia DSouza