Conclusions
From the analysis (see maps) we see that a lot needs to be done to improve the conditions regarding the risk factors and subsequently the response mechanism from the point of authorities point of view.
All aspects of the field need to be relooked. The following conclusions have been made regarding the aspect of fire safety and emergency response.
The SFAC guidelines say that one fire station is required for every 10.24 square kilometers, one rescue van for every 10 lakhs population and an additional van for every next 10 lakhs and six pumping units for three lakhs and one for every one lakh.
In the Indian conditions response time of three minutes cannot be reached therefore practical assumptions need to be made.
For example the Delhi Fire Service has at present 36 fire stations and an average response time of more than fifteen minutes it plans to reduce it to ten minutes but only with a strength of a total of 63 fire stations. That means a requirement of 27 more fire stations (source: DFS)
The case of Hyderabad is not much different as with 10 fire stations only 40 percent of the city is covered with reasonable response time. To get an average response time of about 10 minutes there is a shortfall of 11 fire stations, three rescue vans and 27 fire tenders.
One more important aspect that needs to be closely coordinated is the water supply. Every fire station should have it's own water source and should be helped by the Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) in locating convenient outlets at required points. Inter departmental coordination is an important requirement for any integrated response system.
The major conclusions are as follows:
- Inadequate Fire Stations
- Inadequate Equipment
- Inadequate Communication Facilities
- Lax Fitness Standards
- Low Skills and Training Standards
- Shortage of Staff
- Taxing Shift system
- Low Salaries and Incentives
- Lack of Funds / Financial Autonomy
- No Risk Zoning Exercise of the City Undertaken.
- More than Half of the City not covered under adequate response time during peak hour.
- Erratic Traffic and Narrow Streets as Impedimants
- Bad Road conditions
- Lack of Interdepartmental Coordination
- Lack of Public Awareness .
Recommendations
Location of New Facilities
11 more fire stations need to located in the required areas of Diamond Point, Mahendra Hills, Lalbazaar, Shanti Nagar, Saleem Nagar, Kanchan Bagh, Falaknuma, Jubilee Hills, Yousuf Guda and Shivam.
They should be located on a major road of minimum right of way 45 mtrs, appropriately located with respect to an intersection.
In the proposed scenario 100 % of the city is covered within a response time of 10 minutes in peak time.
It should be noted that while planning for the new areas during the micro level land use planning the areas for such emergency facilities be given special attention and located in proximity under the public and semi public land use.
Also the study comes up with the startling state of Fire Services in Hyderabad City but also the fact that almost all Indian cities are in a very bad shape in terms of Fire Service and Fire Safety.
Doubling of fire stations and making appropriate changes just to cater to the existing need requires lots of expenditure (as in the case of Hyderabad) and according to the resource mobilisation status of the particular authority, plans should be projected and implemented in conjunction with the overall planning and development strategies of the city.