Because of increasing fire incidents, mostly in villages, the Himachal Pradesh fire department is considering a plan to build water tanks over the densely-populated villages and install hydrants in the middle of the village to tackle fire without wasting time during emergency situations.
Chansu village of Kinnaur district has already built such water tank on mountain near the village. Villagers have five water hoses, each of 50 meter in length, which are sufficient to reach all 90 houses of the village from the centrally-located water hydrant. They are capable of dousing the fire of any kind on their own without help from fire tenders.
Himachal Pradesh chief fire officer M S Sonkhla said
The plan is to impart villagers training on how to handle the water hoses and start dousing the fire before the fire fighters reach them. If plan is successful, the big villages of the state would first be provided with the facility
Hundreds of remote villages in the state are either not connected with road or they are located far away from the fire services. The plan, which does not need any power and run with gravity could prove savior for such villages where fire tenders could reach only after hours.
Via/TOI
