Kishtwar, Sep 15: The government is planning to scale up fire safety measures in Kishtwar township.
An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kishtwar Devansh Yadav chaired a meeting in his office chamber to discuss and implement a comprehensive plan to improve fire safety measures, response capabilities, and overall preparedness in Kishtwar town.
President Municipal Committee Kishtwar, Sajjad Ahmed Najjar; DSP Ishan Gupta, Assistant Director Fire and Emergency Services, Amit Shajotra; Executive Engineer PHE, Sunil Sharma; EO Municipality, Ninad Sen; and Sheikh Asgar of Red Cross attended the meeting.
During the meeting, a discussion took place focusing on the recent fire incident in the town, assessment of the existing fire safety measures, identifying any gaps or areas where improvements was needed, improvement in response time of the Fire and Emergency Department, assessment of the adequacy of firefighting resources, including personnel, equipment, and vehicles, training programmes and capacity-building initiatives for firefighters and emergency response teams, and identifying areas where additional training or resources are required.
The deliberations centered round the strategic installation of fire hydrants in the Kishtwar town at 13 critical locations.
The DC Kishtwar issued directives for the immediate procurement of hydrants to be installed within a month, ensuring expedited progress.
The concerned departments assured that within two weeks, the first fire hydrant would be installed at Ward No 6 while the rest would be placed in the given timeline.
The Fire and Emergency Services received instructions to maintain an adequate supply of firefighting equipment, including fire extinguishing materials and fire suppression balls, to effectively address emergencies.
Furthermore, the PHE Department was entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining a dedicated water tanker on standby to respond to any fire incidents promptly.
All the departments involved were also advised to maintain an integrated and prompt response system to ensure swift coordination during emergencies.
The DC Kishtwar also gave a thrust to consider conducting regular fire drills and exercises to test the preparedness of response teams and assess the effectiveness of emergency protocols.
In the meeting, the DC stressed that collaborative efforts were pivotal to the successful deployment of fire hydrants at all 13 designated locations within the town.
