KATHMANDU’S FIRE BRIGADE
Infrastructurally weak for emergency

UJJWAL PRAJAPATI

Kathmandu, Mar.24:Hello, 101 fire brigade. The hot line to the fire brigade at the Kathmandu Fire Station rings almost 200 times a year and the fire fighters immediately brace up to fight the raze. However, most of the time they are constrained by poor equipment, lack of fire engines, traffic jams and even lack of proper know how on how to fight the fire.

Kathmandu may have grown into a Metropolis, but lack of adequate provision for fighting fire could be an Achilles’ heels if such a disaster occurs.

"The technique and the facilities has not improved much since the days of Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher Rana, who first introduced fire engines in the country just before World War II," says Krishna Bahadur Khatri, commander of the Kathmandu Fire Station at New Road.

The first fire engine was introduced in Kathmandu in 1938 (1994 B.S.) and seven years later Patan and Bhaktapur also got their own fire engines.

Presently, there are 9 fire engines in Kathmandu valley. Kathmandu has got three fire engines, two of them Magirus fire engines brought from Germany in 2042 B.S. Each of these engines has the capacity to carry 4,000 litres of water. However, one of them is simply a water tank and only carries water.

Lalitpur has one Magirus fire engine and two water-carrying tanks. Bhaktapur also has one Magirus and a Russian water-carrying vehicle. However, Bhaktapur still has one Dennis fire engine, brought almost 55 years ago, but as a showpiece.

Although the Tribhuvan International Airport has its own and separate provision of fighting fire, the three cities of Kathmandu have only four fire engines which are operational.

Kathmandu has not got any new fire engine since three Magirus fire engines were brought 14 year ago in 2042 B.S.. Of the three one met with an accident. Two previous fire engines were brought in 2032 B.S.

With these meagre resources, any major outbreak of fire could be a major catastrophic.

Dharma Lal Shrestha of Kathmandu Fire Station said they are stretched to their limit if there are more fire in more than one place, like the one that occurred in Thamel and at Suraj Arcade last week.

More importantly, the fire fighters are grossly ill equipped. Shivaram Karki, acting Officer-in-Charge of Patan Fire Station said they have no gas masks, no fire proof outfit, like jackets and shoes and other equipment.

In the same vein, acting Officer-in-Chief of Bhaktapur fire station, Ramesh Dhungana also said they have only water to fight fire.

Dharma Lal Shrestha of Kathmandu Fire Station said, they do not even have fire extinguisher in case there is fire due to electricity failure or short circuit. "In such cases you can not use water, for the water will also act as conductor of electricity."

Moreover, the administrative problem has also dogged the fire fighters. Fire fighters say they do not know where in the administrative set-up they belong to. Those employed as fire fighters are appointed according to a separate provision of law which do not make them clear either they are civil servants or the army or the police.

Min Bahadur Poudel, Director at the Natural Disaster and Control Section of the Home Ministry also agreed that the law is not clear on which section of the administrative set-up they belong to. He, however, said the government is thinking of putting the fire stations under the municipalities in Kathmandu. Already, outside Kathmandu valley the fire brigades are under municipal control.

Presently, there are 55 fire fighters out of 72 posts, and many of them are temporary or contractual staff. Many of them are not even trained in fighting fire. There has been no new recruitment for the last several years and there is no possibility of this in the near future.

Director Poudel said there is no possibility of making any new appointments. He, however, said if they find any trained manpower they could hire them on temporary or on contract.

One of the problems for the non-recruitment of new personnel or brining in new equipment is the lack of budget. They refused to divulge the exact amount, but said the budget is very less. The budget is said to be Rs. 2 to 2.5 million annually for each of the Fire Station in Kathmandu valley.

Poudel also accepted the budget is too little for upgrading the fire fighting capability.

Apart from lack of equipment and facilities, fire fighters say the traffic and the narrow lanes pose severe constraint to their jobs.

Khatri of Kathmandu Fire Station said the narrow lanes and growing traffic often pose problem in reaching the destination in time.

Another problem faced by the fire fighters is the shortage of water. There are only two or three places where the fire engines can refill their tank. Engines of Kathmandu Fire Station have to go to Bouddha Mahankal to fill their tanks. Those of Patan have to go either to Bouddha or Bhainsepati for refill and in Bhaktapur the water supply authority of the district let the engines refill their tanks. Otherwise, they would also have to go to Bouddha for fill up.

Fire fighters say the most susceptible time for the occurance of fire is from February to April. The Kathmandu Fire Station gets about 250 calls annually. This number is 60-70 in Patan and about 200 in Bhaktapur.

Shrestha of the Kathmandu station said there are also bogus calls. So, he said they make return calls to make there is indeed a fire. He said people at times do not seem very cooperative and do not understand our constraint. "They sometimes blame us for not arriving earlier or even coming with only one fire engine."

Because of less number of fire engines in Kathmandu and also because there are no fire engines in towns like Banepa and Dhulikhel, the fire engines of Kathmandu valley have to provide service to these areas also. Sometimes, in emergency the fire engines also have to go outside the Valley.

Growing urbanization demands adequate provision for safety from fire and other natural and man-made disasters. The haphazard construction of houses, many of them without sufficient provision of fighting fire, may have made Kathmandu a tinder-box. The lack of sufficient number of fire engines and trained manpower is an indication that Kathmandu has almost closed its eyes to the possibility of this disaster. May be, Kathmandu will realize the importance of having enough and sufficient provision for fighting fire only after such a calamity strikes.

Timber smugglers arrested

By Our Correspondent

Biratnagar, Mar. 24:Area Police Office of Urlabari has arrested a group of timber smugglers with 60 cu ft. of Shakhuwa timber near Pipaldandi yesterday. They were arrested by the police patrol at about 2.00 A.M. One of those arrested was Dhiraj Budathoki along with timbers. More than 24 others involved in the smuggling fled, it is learnt.