The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Global Positioning System for fire tenders

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 16, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Global Positioning System for fire tenders

K.T. Sangameswaran

Control room in Chennai to be modernised

CHENNAI: As part of the efforts to modernise the fire control room in Chennai, procurement of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and preparatory work for installing a new telephone exchange are under way.

The modernisation is likely to be completed in two months. The Government has allocated Rs.129.70 lakh to the department for 2007-08 for various schemes, including modernisation of the control room in Chennai at a cost of Rs.14.40 lakh.

Under the modernisation plan, it is proposed to give one GPS to each of the 28 fire stations in the city for being fitted on the water tender.

For better monitoring

The facility will help in better planning and monitoring of the movement of fire tenders by control room personnel, Director of Fire and Rescue Services Bholanath told The Hindu.

A new telephone system, equipped with Centrax technology to provide a better communication infrastructure for personnel and public will be installed.

It will not pose problems for people to access emergency number 101.

Digital voice recorder

The equipment will also have a digital voice recorder. It facilitates easy detection of hoax calls. The present telephone communication facility is outdated, the Director said.

Answering a question, Mr. Bholanath said he had not received much complaints regarding the response time (time taken by the first vehicle to reach an accident place after receipt of a fire call).

As per official records, in Chennai, the response time was 10 minutes or less and in the districts 20 minutes. The department was trying to reduce the time further.

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