Fire brigade has summer time blues

KOCHI: With soaring summer heat, firemen in the district are having restless days of the year. Fire stations in the district are reportedly getting maximum number of calls during peak summer season from March to May.
During this period, 16 fire stations in the district normally get four to six calls a day on an average.
In most cases, anonymous calls inform about garbage and dried grass in barren lands catching fire.Cigarette butts thrown also triggers fire. Fire tenders from Club Road Station had to rush to Marine Drive on Sunday and Monday after garbage dumped near the area caught fire. Last week, grass and bushes in a barren land near Goshree Bridge had caught fire, causing trouble to motorists.
"About 80% of the calls we receive are related to garbage and grass catching fire in the city and suburbs. In some cases, people deliberately set fire on garbage. Help of fire service is called only when the fire spreads to nearby areas. Some stations are getting about seven calls a day," said district fire officer V Siddhakumar.
Though no casualties were reported in the recent past, fire from garbage spreading to houses and shops remains a major concern.
"All fire stations in the city are on standby to attend any emergency situation. The stations together have 26 fire tenders and seven water tankers to deal with multiple emergencies at any given time," said the official.
Traffic snarls in the city limits are a major hurdle for fire tenders to reach the spot at the earliest, said the district fire officer.