HUBLI: Chief Fire Officer, North Karnataka Region, B.K. Hampagol has said that there was no deliberate delay on part of the fire tenders in dealing with the fire accident in Hubli on Thursday night.

Speaking to presspersons here on Friday, Mr. Hampagol said that it was not true that there was delay in fire tenders reaching the spot as reported in some section of the media.

He said the news about the fire accident reached the fire station at 7.50 p.m. and immediately a fire tender was rushed to the spot. According to the practice, another fire engine is pressed into service only after the officer in charge gives his report about the severity of the fire mishap after reaching the spot, he said.

On Friday, immediately after the report came in another fire engine was rushed to the spot and looking at the severity of the fire the third fire engine was pressed into service later, he said.

Transit time

Mr. Hampagol said that a minimum of 20 minutes was required for the transit and listed out various problems that the fire tenders were facing in the twin cities because of narrow roads and non-cooperative attitude of the vehicle owners.

He said because of the narrow roads, the big fire tenders were unable to reach the spots in time.

Mr. Hampagol said another problem that the department had in the twin cities was the shortage of fire hydrants and because of that they had to spend much time in getting to the fire hydrants to get water.

He said all the gates that connect to the old P.B. Road from the APMC Yard, where the fire station is situated, are closed. The High Court passed an order on February 28, 2006, ordering for keeping the gates open during night for the convenience of the general public. However, there has been no response from either the district administration or the Commissioner of Agriculture Marketing, to whom the copies have been sent to requesting for appropriate action, he said.

A fire broke out on Thursday night at Hungund Chawl in Ganeshpet of Hubli in which two houses were gutted and five houses were partially damaged.

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