57 New Fire Stations in Bihar soon

PATNA: With summer at hand, when there is a spurt in cases of breakout of fire, the state government has geared up to deal with any eventuality. It is beefing up the infrastructure for fire-fighting operations.

“With the onset of summer, the chances of fire breakouts increase. Therefore, the government is expanding the network of fire stations,” Ramesh Chandra, state fire officer, told TOI.

Apart from 46 existing fire stations, the government is setting up a total of 57 fire stations in different sub-divisions across the state. “The setting up of new fire stations has almost been completed, and they would become functional within a month from now,” Chandra added.

Initially, these fire stations will operate from the premises of police stations, SDO offices or other convenient government buildings, while construction of their buildings are underway.

“Earlier, fire breakouts in rural areas would cause extensive damage as fire tenders from district headquarters would take a long time to reach the spot of the incident. But now that fire tenders will be available in sub-divisions, fire tenders would be quick in reaching the spot,” said an official.

The state fire department will also get a new fleet of fire tenders within a month to effectively carry out fire-fighting operations. Funds have already been allotted for purchasing 114 fire tenders and other modern equipment, said officials. The process of purchasing fire tenders has begun in right earnest and the department would get them by the end of May, they said.

Senior officials said new vehicles would help firemen deliver effective services to people. “There are a total of 236 fire tenders in the state. After the 114 new ones are delivered, their number will rise to 350.”

Till date, 57 sub-divisions in the state do not have a fire station. Soon, each sub-division will have a fire station, two fire tenders, 15 to 16 firemen and all sundry equipment, officials said.

For effectively operating the system, the government will also recruit a total of 950 firemen “Sanction has been given for the recruitment and it will be done in due course,” Ramesh Chandrasaid. In the meantime, the state government will deploy home guard personnel for the purpose. “Initially, we are providing training to a total of 750 home guard personnel, who will look after fire-fighting operations till the process of recruitment is completed,” Chandra added.

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