Buy fire engines

It is shocking that of the total 15 fire engines available in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur, 12 are absolutely defunct. These are very old models purchased some 36 years ago and thus can no longer be repaired due to unavailability of spare parts. This leaves the entire valley with just three fire engines belonging to Juddha Barunyantra in Kathmandu. Of the three operational ones, two are 26 years old while the newest one donated by the government of Japan two years ago is small and cannot be used in case of major fire outbreaks.



Of the 12 dysfunctional engines, five belong to Kathmandu, four to Lalitpur and three to Bhaktapur. All the fire engines of Lalitpur turned dysfunctional some eight months ago and that of Bhaktapur years back. Unfortunately, no initiative has been taken to purchase new ones yet.



According to the authorities, there is at least one fire outbreak every day in these three districts. At times, there are multiple outbreaks at the same time too. So in case of emergency in other two districts, engines from Kathmandu have to be rushed there. Worse still, two of the three engines break down often, which invariably means that the engines cannot render timely service to the public when needed.



Secondly, Kathmandu alone has a population of around four million living in cramped and unmanaged localities. Buildings have come up in and around the valley very rapidly over the last decade making the city congested. Our cities are few of the most unplanned in the world. Thirdly, many parts of Patan and Bhaktapur have very old colonies prone to fire breakouts. The entire structure around the Durbar Square areas contains no iron nails or supports and is made entirely from wood and timber. And not to forget, Kathmandu is one of the eight most vulnerable cities prone to earthquake.



The plight of our fire safety network raises an important question: Are we safe? Clearly, we are not equipped to deal with any calamity of massive scale that can have the ability to throw life out of gear for valley people. Therefore, the fire service badly needs overhauling. It is high time that an effective and efficient mechanism is put in place for in absence of the fire fighting engines, we are in no better position than in 1940s when an iron tower was erected to monitor the city and watch out for fire, and as a precautionary measure, fire servicemen were sent to the areas designated vulnerable to fire outbreak.



We do not seem to have fared better ever since.



It is, therefore, imperative for the government to immediately purchase the required number of fire engines to solve the current problem and direct the municipalities to work out a viable long-term solution to make the fire service well-equipped. For the moment, this is the only alternative to keep the valley safe from possible fire outbreaks.

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