State fire Services is all geared up to keep fireworks under control in an untoward situation in Diwali this year. Some 20 fire extinguisher vehicles have been deployed from 6:00 PM on Saturday at sensitive places including that of from CCl, MECON and HEC, said Fire Services DIG Sudhir Kumar Jha.

Narrow streets selling fireworks, densely populated colonies and already demarcated sensitive places from the experience of yester year are on the radar of fire services. Jha said that all the four fire stations of the city-Audrey House, Doranda, Dhurwa and Piska More were kept on alert.

“Apart from all the fire fighters of these stations, firemen of CCl, HEC and MECCON and all other organisations having fire fighting facilities for out stations have been asked to be on duty for next 36 hours starting from Saturday evening 6:00 PM,” said Jha.

Though he admitted that a mere 12 fire vehicles were not enough and even vehicles of other organisations included to reach the total number merely around 20, yet the number was able to take any unwanted situation under control.

“We have also prepared a guideline of what to do and what not to for citizens and those in business of fireworks including others, which would be published in newspapers on the day of Diwali on Sunday. Apart from this, we had issued guidelines for fireworks traders and markets about fire safety activities some time ago. We have also organised live demo to combat small scale fire at a number of places,” added Jha.

However, the fact of the matter is that those involved in fireworks businesses and having shops at congested locations were not seen taking fire department guidelines too seriously, which kept city under threat. “This actually have remained an area of concern. But the thing is that our core focus and area of concern remains confined with combating broken fires. If someone doesn’t follow the guidelines issued by us or other authorities, we can’t penalise them. Moreover, not being able to reach up to many places only because man made congestion on the roads has also remained one of the major area of concern.,” pleaded Jha.

He also appeared little concerned about the facilities and quality gears being provided to fire fighters. “This is something that only policy makers can decide. There are genuine concerns in terms of number of vehicles and safety gears to fire fighters. But we strongly believe that our men are competent enough to take the call wherever it would be needed,” believed Jha. He said that state disaster management professionals were also kept on alert by Government, if needed.