With the history of fire instances in Mumbai, Congress leader Milind Deora launched a fire safety campaign in collaboration with All India Professionals Congress and the city’s Fire Department. The name of the campaign comes with a hashtag - #FireSafeMumbai and it has been initiated to deter more fire incidents and to acknowledge the firefighters.
Our firefighters are just as brave as our military officers. The best way we can honour our firefighters is by ensuring that we do not put them in harm’s way,” said Milind Deora while launching the campaign.
Earlier, Minister of State (MoS) for Urban Development Ranjit Patil informed in the Vidhan Sabha that between 2008 and 2018, a total of 49,391 fire mishaps were reported with around 600 casualties. The campaign will organize mock drills, hands-on workshops, and fire safety demonstrations in high-rise buildings across South Mumbai to enhance fire preparedness in the city.
Also Read - 49,179 Disasters Were Reported In Mumbai That Claimed 987 Lives
Mumbai Chief Fire Officer Prabhat Rahangdale was the chief guest at the event and while addressing the gathering he promised the fire department’s full support to the campaign. “The Mumbai Fire Department will give our full support for this campaign. This is a great initiative and we hope to see more such initiatives in the future,” said Rahangdale.
The Chief Fire Officer also informed that the fire department has recently started a volunteer program for those who seek to be a part of fire safety. The event felicitated four brave fire officers including Deputy Chief Fire Officer P. B. Bhosale, Leading Fireman Anant Jagade, Fireman Harshal Katke and Fireman Pramod Girase.
In New York, after 9/11, they gave as much respect to their firemen as to their army officers. We need to do the same. There is no reason why we as a citizenry cannot come together and take care of our firefighters,” said Deora.
Deora also congratulated Chief Fire Officer Rahangdale for beginning the historic move of inducting not only firemen but firewomen as well. “Mumbai now has the biggest contingent of firewomen in the country. This is something we must be proud of,” said Deora.
Two young fire safety ambassadors, who had demonstrated exemplary leadership and innovation, were also invited to speak at the event. Zen Sadavarte, who was only 10-years-old when she saved more than 15 lives during the Crystal Tower fire, spoke about how she used techniques she had researched about in Grade 3 to protect her family and neighbours.
Innovator Shiv Kampani, a 14-year-old student, spoke about how he had designed a robotic gas sensor. He lives in the Beau Monde building, which had also witnessed a fire incident earlier this year.
The Congress leader emphasised that Fire Safe Mumbai was aimed at making citizens equal stakeholders in fire preparedness. While it was easy to blame the government for the high number of fire incidents, lack of citizen awareness about fire safety also contributed equally to the crisis.
More than 2/3rds of fires are caused by faulty electrical systems and can be prevented through simple precautionary measures. I hope this campaign will spread awareness and deepen cooperation between the citizens of Mumbai and the dynamic team at the helm of the Mumbai Fire Brigade,” said Deora.
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