6 years after 26/11: Firemen still await bulletproof jackets

Climbing ladders at least 20 times, convincing people to get on the ladders, fighting fire inside the Taj, dodging bullets all the while — the 72 hours went by in a blur of adrenaline-induced state of heightened courage, say officials from the Mumbai Fire Brigade. “We did not know the gravity of the situation. For us, it was a firefighting and rescue operation,” says K F D’souza, another medal-winning firefighter.

Nearly 120 firefighters managed to rescue more than 200 people from the Taj Mahal Hotel on the first night. For the next three days, at least 392 firefighters heaved swollen bullet-ridden bodies — some of them two days old — from CST, Taj Mahal, Trident and Nariman House.

“I have been in many fire and rescue operations, but when I saw the policemen get shot just ahead of me, for a split second, I was scared for my life. Just for a second,” said Mahendra Desai, then station officer of Gowalia Tank fire station who received a silver medal from the municipal commissioner. “Kai Desai, baiko kumkum ghalte ki tikli? Aaj pusnaar ki kai (Does your wife smear vermillion on her forehead or wear a tikli? Will she have to wipe it tonight),” asked a colleague, as they moved the bleeding policemen into an ambulance. “But once we heard screams and cries for help from the first and second floors, our ladders came out,” he said, adding that they could no longer wait for the police to provide protection.

But the ladders were too short. The fire brigade ladders were meant for regular sized buildings whose first floor would be 8-10 feet from the ground. At the Taj’s heritage wing, the first floor was much higher.

Directed by screams for help and hapless people trying to climb out of windows, firefighters moved their ladders and turntable ladders in position and entered the hotel rooms. “Sometimes, because of the hurry, we could not position the turntable ladder right next to the sill, and it made our work tougher. But there was no time for us to reorient as we could be shot at any time,” said D’souza, then a station officer at Fort.

Then came a loud explosion at 3.08 am, and huge flames began to lick the windows of the sixth floor on the west corner of the heritage building. The fire brigade aimed the water jets from a distance even as their vehicles were being fired upon.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade then had only six Aerial Ladder Platforms (ALP) and just two bullet-proof jackets that day.

Again, on November 28, around 4 pm, terrorists set fire to the northeast portion of the heritage building. “Brigadier G S Sisodia, IG (Operations & training) of the National Security Guards (NSG), told us that dense smoke in the heritage building was making it difficult for the NSG commandos to corner the terrorists,” said Prabhat Rahangdale, then assistant divisional fire officer, now deputy chief fire officer.

Donning a borrowed bulletproof jacket, a team of four led by Rahangdale entered the hotel. Ducking grenades and gunfire and covered by NSG commandos, the team pressed the water jet from the lobby of the Taj highrise building into service. The team entered the fifth floor using the main staircase of the hotel and fought fire from the lobby.

“The team extinguished and contained the fire to only one room, which would have otherwise spread to the entire floor. Moreover, on November 29 at about 7.30am during the combing operation, terrorists set fire on the ground and first floors of the heritage building. Rahangdale and his team entered the burning rooms along with NSG commandos and was able to control the fire, which helped NSG kill three terrorists,” stated a report submitted by the fire brigade team to the civic body.

Six years later, Rahangdale and his fellow fighters still await bulletproof jackets and have had no training on tackling fires during a terror attack. “There have been no mock drills or special training,” admitted an official who did not wish to be named.

But the attitude in the fire brigade is “we fight fire, not terror”. “We are not the first line of defence so training should be conducted and equipment should be procured for the police and NSG. Fire fighting and rescue operations are done from inside. In case of the terrorist attack, we had to do more of a peripheral rescue. We cannot be trained as every time circumstances will be different. With this experience, we cannot prepare SOPs, cannot conduct mock attacks. All we can do is boost up morale of the force,” said an official.

The only difference between 2008 and now is that there is a unified command centre at the BMC’s disaster management cell where a representative from each force would be present during an emergency. The civic body has also approved the purchase of taller ladders and firefighters are equipped with ‘personal protective equipment’ — a fire resistant uniform and kit. “On that day, we shared our gas masks with NSG and police, we received bulletproof jackets from them. There was no SOP for a terror attack then,” said Rahangdale. “It is currently used for floods.”

In May 2008, BMC’s Standing Committee cleared a Rs 30-crore proposal for procuring new fire resistant uniforms and equipment for the 2,300 firemen. In July 2014, after sitting on the idea for two years, the civic body finally moved a proposal to purchase 90-metre tall hydraulic platform to help it during fire fighting.

To fight fire, whether or not terrorists are involved, the fire brigade is currently equipped with ladders, turn-table ladders used for aerial firefighting and evacuating passengers during an emergency situation, breathing apparatus and fire-resistant uniforms, walkie-talkies, water tankers, ambulances and water jets.

The firefighters claim that “all safety gear cause hindrance and reduce efficiency”, referring to the difficulty in grabbing ladders and injured people using gloves.

“Moreover,  terrorists did not attack us because we did not have ammunition and posed them no threat,” said Rane.

According to chief fire officer Sunil Nesarikar, the fire brigade has conducted mock drills in malls. “We conduct drills for terror every year in coordination with police. The drills are meant for evacuation, not for firefighting. A demonstration of firefighting during a terror attack is not carried out. Our people sometimes open hydrants during such drills so you can call it firefighting during terror,” he said.

“How many times do we need to encounter such things in life? There is an SOP — when bullets are fired, no one goes inside without escort of military or NSG, not even us. That time we went because initially we did not how bad the situation was. If we had known the situation, we would not have gone inside. Next time, we will enter such buildings only when we have full protection of the NSG or police,” he added.