The Mumbai fire brigade added a special vehicle to its fleet at Mulund fire station on Thursday, on the eve of Fire Service Day. The vehicle can extinguish fire in a high-rise up to 64mt (nearly 22 floors).
The fire brigade department has over 270 vehicles like fire engines, jumbo water tankers and ladder vans. There are around 20 ladders; the highest that can reach 90mt is with the Byculla fire station.
In 2015, the department added a 90mt snorkel to its fleet, which can scale up to 30 floors and has a turntable ladder and elevated water pumps to conduct firefighting and rescue operations.
While the one that can reach up to 81mt is in Borivali and a 70mt ladder in Vikhroli fire station. The fire station in Mulund had a 42mt until now, which could reach up to 12 floors only.
In case of a fire incident in floors higher than 12, the Mulund fire station would have to call vehicles from Vikhroli or Byculla fire stations. “High-rises have their own firefighting systems, but in several cases they were found to be in non-working condition. So having a special vehicle in the fleet will help the station to start the rescue operation in time and save precious lives,” said sources from the fire brigade.
As reported earlier, the fire brigade also has plans to procure additional special purpose vehicles with a water pump reaching up to 50 storeys. The vehicle will help tackle fire incidents in high-rise buildings. Currently, the fleet has one such vehicle purchased in 2021.
