CUTTACK: Acute manpower shortage, lack of modern fire-fighting equipment and several other inherent problems have put the fire service in the State in the doldrums.

Moreover, firemen now find it extremely difficult to face the challenges ahead due to inordinate delay in promulgation of the Orissa Fire Act. The Bill to this effect was passed in the State Assembly in 1993.

In the absence of a proper Act, high-rise buildings, temporary structures, hotels, marriage and social venues are turning a blind eye to fire safety measures, allege office-bearers of the State Fire Service Association.

Draft rule

"Though the draft rule of the Act was submitted to the government immediately after the Bill was passed in December 1993, it has not yet received the requisite approval. In the absence of the Act, the fire service in Orissa is in doldrums," alleges president of Orissa Fire Service Officers' Association Sailendu Mohanty.

The office-bearers of the association point out that though the fire service is considered an emergency service provider, it is now mired in severe problems.

New stations

"There has not been any recruitment in the department since 1998. As a result, vacancies due to retirement, promotion and death of employees are rising.

Currently, the department has 850 vacancies in subordinate ranks and 21 in supervisory ranks," says secretary of the association Pravat Mohapatra.

What affects the department most is that the government has opened some 39 new fire stations in the year 2000-01 without making any additional provisions for recruiting manpower and infrastructure.

"The redistribution of the existing strength in the newly opened stations has considerably enhanced the plight," says State fire officer R.B. Mohanty.

Interestingly, Orissa now has 153 fire stations spread across the State and only one fire officer is supervising all the stations.

"While a single officer was supervising three fire stations in the State during pre-Independence period, we now have one person to look after 153 stations," says the fire officer who is also principal of the only fire training school at Bhubaneswar.

On lack of provisions like advanced and new appliances for better service and minimisation of response time in attending to emergency calls, vice-president of the association R.K. Swain says that without approachable ladders, proximity suits, hazmat suits, chemical suits and breathing apparatus, the firemen face untold miseries in controlling the inferno in high-rise buildings.

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