Three-tier fire-fighting plan for CWG

The capital's fire brigade on Tuesday unveiled a three-tier fire-fighting plan for the upcoming Commonwealth Games during which around 650 firemen will be deployed in venues with sophisticated equipment.

The Delhi Fire Services is also procuring GPS-enabled Automatic Vehicle Tracking System before the Games which will help in improving the response time of the fire-fighters, find the shortest route and facilitate reinforcement.

"Around 600-650 personnel will be deployed for the Games," Delhi Fire Services (DFS) Director R C Sharma told reporters here.

All the stadia will have a dedicated fire station with upto three fire tenders and backpack fire-fighters helping in evacuation of sportspersons and spectators in case of an eventuality.

The Games village coming up at Akshardham in east Delhi will have a dedicated fire station while the Control Room for the Games will be set up at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

The fire-fighters will also have a change in colour in their uniform with the present 'khaki' giving way to bright orange so as to distinguish them from police and paramilitary.

Providing details about the arrangements, Sharma said there will be an in-built fire safety system in each stadium. Fire fighters will be spread across the facility to douse fire and help evacuate people in case of an emergency.

The second layer is that of deployment of rescue workers with fire-fighting equipment in a backpack while the third layer will involve standby mobile teams outside each stadia.

The fire-fighters will also be equipped with secured wireless communication system using TETRA technology, Sharma said.

The DFS is also procuring five fast response vehicles with water-mist technology before the Games. The water-mist technology will help in attending to the emergency instantly.

Before the Games, he said, the capital will have four more fire stations in Civic Centre, Games Village, Shahdara and Mayur Vihar district Centre. With this, the capital will have 55 fire stations.

The Fire Services is also planning to procure hydraulic platform which can take the personnel to 70 metre high. Once procured, Delhi will be the third city in the country to get such an equipment after Kolkata and Mumbai.

"We cannot say that there will be no fire incidents during the Games. There may be incidents. We cannot avoid incidents. But we are prepared and any incident will be tackled immediately," Sharma said.

He said the fire fighters will talk to police and Games volunteers on how to help evacuation of people from stadia.