Bhopal Ill-Equipped! 47 Fire Tenders, One Hydraulic Machine To Tackle Fire
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): According to the National Fire Safety Council of India, there should be one fire tender per 50,000 people. However, Bhopal, with a population of around 30 lakh, has only 47 fire tender—falling short of the required 60 needed for basic fire safety.
In all the 47 fire fighters and 28 water hydrants are available in Bhopal with different agencies like municipal corporation, police and public enterprise to respond to any fire exigency in the city.
Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has a fleet of 65 fire tenders including, bullets, bowsers of 12,000 lt - 13,000 lt capacity and hydraulic machine to contain the flames. Police fire brigade has 5 firefighters and BHEL two.
On Thursday, fire had broken out in garbage dumped near BHEL, and massive fire broke out in forest land around the 13-shutter area of Kaliyasotdam, near the Water and Land Management Institute (WALMI).
In 2023, there was a major fire in Satpura Bhavan - one of three administrative buildings in Bhopal - and after a nine months gap, another fire broke out on the fourth floor in the same building in February 2024. These fire incidents exposed the poor fire management system in the state capital. In the recent past, a portion of Vallabh Bhavan had also caught fire.
These incidents raise concerns over fire fighting arrangements of BMC administration which almost has sole responsibility and accountability regarding fire control.
Fire experts are of the opinion that there is a need to separate the fire brigade in 11-Meel, Misord as it is currently under the Kolar fire brigade.
What Officers Say
Rameshwar Neel, BMC officer, said, “We have 40 fire tenders, hydraulic machines that can go up to 52 meter height and together with bowsers, and bullets, the civic body has a fleet of 65 tenders.
These are deployed to handle any kind of emergency during fire. Bullets equipped with fire extinguishers have been inducted in the BMC fleet to deal with fire incidents in congested areas like old Bhopal.”
BMC superintending engineer for water supply, Udit Garg, said, “We have 28 water hydrants- at least one per zone on average. In some zones, there is more than one hydrant. This allows us to respond quickly to emergencies while maintaining water supply to tankers deployed for firefighting.”
ADG Ashutosh Rai (police fire brigade) stated, “We have five fire tenders—four are new, and one is old. Our primary responsibility is to respond immediately to fire incidents in Vallabh Bhavan, Satpura, Vidhyachal, and the Vidhan Sabha.”
news