Fire department not adequately equipped

Seventeen fire stations reportedly have no bore wells, in nine stations the wells are non-functional and 17 other stations are operating without underground water tanks in the national capital. Of the 205 pumping units required to tackle fire incidents for a population of 167.88 lakh, only 160 such units are available and out of these as many as 31 are out of order. Against the required 19 rescue vehicles, only six vehicles and an ambulance are available with the Delhi Fire Service. These startling facts have come to light in an audit report conducted by the Comptroller-General of India.

The audit carried out over a period of five years since 2010 revealed that the DFS was not adequately equipped for firefighting. It said that neither regular inspections of the fire stations were being carried out nor had any group been appointed to recommend ways and means for improving the fire service.

The report said the city has over 300-feet highrises, but the DFS just had one skylift to reach 200-feet tall structures. Of the six skylifts, six turntable ladders, two super snorkels and three hazzmat vans available, four skylifts were reportedly out of order.

The CAG said that only 205 mobile radio sets were available for 299 firefighting vehicles. It said: “Out of five repeater sets, only two were functional. Equipment was old and not giving required performance, GIS/ GPS was yet to be installed in the fire vehicles.”

The report said there was a shortage of 43.37 per cent in operational staff, 49 per cent in auto workshop and 42.61 per cent overall in the DFS. “Except training for fresh sub-officers and fire operators, the DFS did not conduct any refresher course, electrical, chemical or specialised training for its existing staff. As of March 2015, out of Rs 9 lakh received, the Fire Safety Management Academy could utilise only Rs 0.35 lakh.”

While the Standard Fire Advisory Council norms prescribe physical assessment test every six months to ensure fitness, the DFS did not conduct any physical assessment tests. In fire incidents within a range of up to 1 km, response time of the DFS was reportedly up to nine minutes and in other cases it ranged between 5 and 35 minutes. The response time of the DFS was within 5 minutes in only 42 per cent fire incidents.

The CAG said that the DFS had not maintained any database of highrise buildings which were required to obtain fire safety certificates. It said that the DFS had also not prepared any database on certain categories of building owners who were required to appoint fire safety officers. Though the non-compliance of the provision for appointing FSOs attracts penalty, the DFS neither issued any notice nor imposed any penalty against any owner from 2010 till 2015.

Despite provision in the DFS Act, 2007 and Rules, 2010, the DFS did not approach the Delhi government for levying of fire tax.

The three municipal corporations and the NDMC had collected Rs 4,173.46 crore as property tax, the report said that the DFS at the rate of one per cent would have received Rs 41.31 crore of the amount. While Section 45 of the DFS Act provides for non-payment of charges for water utilised for firefighting purposes, the DFS paid charges for water it had used for firefighting, official and domestic use at commercial rates.

The audit revealed the despite having its auto workshop, the DFS had incurred an expenditure of Rs 17.02 crore on repair and maintenance of its vehicles in private workshops. In 31 cases of repairs of above Rs 10 lakh and above involving an expenditure of Rs 5.98 crore, no bids were reportedly called for by the DFS. About 11,600 metes of cloth procured on a payment of Rs 14.04 lakh in April 2014 was found lying unstitched till September 2015.