Lake Town got a fire station to serve the locality with the opening of a three-pump station on Tuesday. The ground-breaking ceremony of the building, which has been built by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, had taken place in December 2022.
“There is rapid urbanization happening in the area. Buildings are being made on empty plots. That is why we need to intensify our presence. Other than fire tenders, we have 236 motorcyles, each of which can carry two firemen, armed with foam and CO2, who can start the action even before a fire engine reaches,” said additional chief secretary, fire and emergency services, Manoj Kumar Agarwal. Fifty more bikes have been ordered. “We are also trying to get drones to sprinkle foam and water,” he added.
The opening of the Lake Town unit takes the total number of fire stations in the state to 167, including seven temporary ones.
Minister Sujit Bose and senior officials of the fire and emergency services department flag off the Lake Town fire station on Tuesday.
“Our objective is to meet the national standard which requires the first fire tender to reach the site of a fire within five to seven minutes. This new fire station will be supported by the network of other fire stations in the neighbourhood — Dum Dum, Maniktala, New Town, Bidhannagar and Birati. So we should surely be able to reach within that time," said director-general of fire services Sanjoy Mukherjee.
So far, the station closest was Dum Dum from where it would take a fire tender eight to 10 minutes to reach Lake Town. "In terms of population, this area is very congested and we wanted to have a stronger coverage here," Mukherjee added.
The last big fire in the area was in July 2021 when Mini Jaya, a 442-seater theatre on the upper floor of Jaya cinema, was gutted, barely a stone's throw away from the location of the new fire station. "The cushion of the seats had foam which emits toxic fumes. Since the area is so congested, it was quite a task for us to bring the fire under control," recalled a senior fire department official, who was present during the blaze. The hall was then shut due to regulations enforced in the Covid period.
While the firemen did not want to speculate on whether the new fire station could have made the task easier had it been in operation during the Jaya cinema fire, local people, thronging the street in front of the stage in a sizeable number, expressed happiness and relief that their area would be more secure. “This was really needed. So many apartments are coming up here,” said artist Subrata Gangopadhyay, a Patipukur resident, who was invited to the opening along with other eminent neighbours.
A fire tender requires a road width of about 10 feet to ply. “We want a keep a small fire tender alongside two big ones to navigate the narrow lanes here,” the director general said.
As for highrises, like the ones in New Town, officials pointed to three possible ways to fight the blaze. “Usually new highrises seeking a no-objection certificate for fire safety are induced to install an inbuilt fire-fighting system. So all the multi-storeyed buildings should have inbuilt pumps, pipes, hoses and sprinklers. So when a building catches fire, especially the higher levels, the heat causes the sprinklers to burst, triggering a water spray. The water can be from either the building's own pipes or a fire engine," a senior official explained. A water bowser, the biggest model, carries 14,000 litres. The department also has hydraulic platforms that can climb up to 20 storeys.
A grab of the report on the foundation stone laying of the.
The green light for the Rs 4.22 crore project was given by chief minister Mamata Banerjee virtually from Habra where she unveiled a clutch of development projects. Her speech was telecast live on a giant screen on the streetside in front of the new fire station and the on-site proceedings could begin only after her address got over, about two and half hours after the scheduled start.
Department minister and local MLA Sujit Bose marked the opening by waving green flags on the stage alongside senior officials and civic representatives.