Karnataka - Bangalore

Four more fire stations to be set up in city

Rasheed Kappan

First of these will come up in Electronic City

BANGALORE: To meet the increasing fire safety needs of the city, the Fire Services will soon add four more fire stations to the existing 11. Six additional stations will come up in the next two years. Work on the first of these is expected to commence with a hi-tech fire station in Electronic City on Hosur Road.

Besides the Electronic City station that will cater to the software and other industrial firms there, three stations have been sanctioned on Sarjapur Road, Nelamangala and Hoskote. These are part of the 28 sanctioned across the State, sources in the Fire Services told The Hindu.

At present, there are 115 stations in different parts of the State.

To be built on a 1.5-acre land provided free by the Karnataka State Electronics

Development Corporation Limited (KEONICS), the Electronic City station is designed to meet the specific fire safety requirements of the software industry. "The two-storeyed station will be equipped with fire-fighters to tackle electronic fires, five fire tenders of different capacities and staff quarters, besides a classroom for community training and a parking lot for the fire tenders," explained a senior Fire Services official.

As many as 27 personnel will be posted at the fire station. This sanctioned number is expected to be increased once the station becomes operational, the sources said.

A public-private participation initiative, the project is funded jointly by the Electronic City

Industries Association and the State's Information Technology Department.

The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) has also been approached for more funds, the sources informed.

The existing 11 fire stations in the city are equipped with 32 fire tenders. While a majority of these vehicles feature 4,500 litre capacity water tanks, the department has nine water lorries with a capacity of 9,000 litres, two water "bouzers" with a capacity of 16,000 litres and one vehicle with a capacity of 3,600 litres. About 30 firemen and two to three fire-tenders are attached to each fire station. The department also has two specialised ladders of 37 m and 30 m height to fight fires in high-rise buildings.

But these are considered inadequate for a fast growing city, where on an average about 1,200 fire emergency calls are received every year. The shortage of land and the high costs involved had apparently slowed down efforts to set up more fire stations. The Electronic City fire station, for instance, was sanctioned about five years ago.

Ideally, according to the Union Government norms, there should be at least one fire tender for every lakh of population.

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