With the rapid growth in the city’s population, over the years, the busy roads have become busier making it difficult for the emergency services to negotiate congested lanes and bylanes to reach out to the site in case of fire emergcies, especially fire.
Photo:SNS
With the rapid growth in the city’s population, over the years, the busy roads have become busier making it difficult for the emergency services to negotiate congested lanes and bylanes to reach out to the site in case of fire emergcies, especially fire.
Considering the gravity of the situation, the government is reviewing the fire preparedness, including preventive measures, so that an effective strategy could be adopted to ensure safety and securtity of the people and property.
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Delhi Home Minister Ashish Sood on Monday chaired a high-level meeting with top officials and divisional officers of the Delhi Fire Services covering all the six divisions, taking stock of the readiness and fire prevention measures across the city.
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The Home Minister told all divisional officers that since they are in-charge of their respective areas, the direct responsibility for preventing and controlling fire incidents lies with them. Hence, he instructed them to work in coordination with RWAs, market associations, religious committees, park clubs, and other social organizations to conduct awareness campaigns related to fire safety.
He stressed that the campaigns must include mock drills to create awareness about “Do’s and Don’ts” during fire incidents, and discussions on preventive fire safety measures.
He issued necessary instructions for effectively implementing fire preventive strategies, awareness programmes, and emergency preparedness measures.
Fire Department officers have also been asked to get in touch with the residents in their respective areas to make them aware of modern fire safety equipments so that they could install measures such as the sprinklers, smoke detector systems, and other fire safety devices in their homes, with he modern amenities and electronic systems.
Sood also reviewed in detail the department’s current capacity and preparedness to effectively deal with the emergency situations.
He discussed indepth about the bottlenecks in fire prevention mechanisms, availability of modern firefighting equipment, procurement of new fire vehicles, modernization plans of the Fire Department, and the proposed “Fire Fighting Master Plan.”
Emphasis was laid on improving the response time of the fire services, modernizing the internal communication system, developing a modern command and control system, and providing advanced technical training to fire officials in line with evolving technologies, and also the challenging situations as per the current scenario.
Sood directed the officials to further strengthen and technologically, and upgrade national capital’s fire safety system to ensure swift and effective action during any emergency.
He directed the Department to conduct regular reviews and ensure fire audits of highly sensitive locations such as schools, colleges, hospitals, and night shelters, to ensure tha that the fire safety arrangements can be strengthened.
The Home Minister has asked the officials concerned to prepare and submit a comprehensive Fire Fighting Master Plan in accordance with the requirements looking at the future, for next 3 years, 15 years, and 25 years, considering aspects such as increase in population density and rapid urban expansion.
Sood directed the Principal Director of the Department to convene an inter-departmental coordination meeting with Delhi Police, DDA, MCD, DISCOMs, Delhi Cantonment Board, and all other concerned civic agencies.
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