Jaipur has only 51 against a requirement of 100No fire suit is availableFire cess of Rs 50 crore collected over the years unutilisedThere is just one snorkel ladder to reach fires in buildings taller than 42 metresMost fire tenders are 10-years-old, no new vehicle purchased after 2013. Jaipur has only 51 against a requirement of 100.The situation is particularly alarming in the Walled City, admit fire fighters.Playing with fire Jaipur has 11 fire stations, while seven more are needed The fire department has 269 firemen against a requirement for 850As per the National Building Code of India (NBCI), one China two color injection molding machine fire tender is required for a population of 40,000. There are only 11 fire stations in the but the city is short by seven. A fire cess of Rs 50 crore lies unutilised.Mayor Ashok Lahoty reached Vidyadhar Nagar fire station for inspection after the incident and accepted that the equipment were old and promised to improve the system.... The reason: the fire fighters were neither trained nor equipped.

Most fire fighting vehicles in Jaipur are in a bad condition.With no lessons learnt from past fires, Jaipur is still sitting on a bomb. The fire tenders were not ready.The official apathy can be gauged from the fact that most fire tenders are 10-year-old and not a single tender has been purchased since 2013. What is the point of opening a fire station without essential equipments?" he asked."They want their own men on key posts to have a say in purchases and contracts. "Instead of conducting fire drills or checking equipment, the fire brigade staff has been roped in for the Swachhta Abhiyan," said a government official.Sources said the victims could not be saved despite three firemen reaching the tragedy site. Jaipur is abysmally short of fire stations, equipment and fire fighters. It is a dangerous situation as lessons have not been learnt from past tragedies. There is neither adequate staff nor proper training for the existing fire fighters. They didnt have masks. Reason: A bill of Rs 750 was not paid by the authorities, forcing the BSNL to disconnect it.The fire brigade department is also working without a permanent chief fire officer and the key responsibility is being handled by an assistant fire officer.Former chief fire officer Ishwar Lal Jat said, "The whole system has collapsed.According to witnesses, the three firemen came in slippers. Ironically, the marchers covered the distance in 45 minutes but the same distance was covered in one-and-half hour by the fire brigade after a call was made around 4 am on the day of the incident.The scenario is even more scary in other cities.Jaipur: Pink City, a major attraction for domestic and foreign tourists and home to over 35 lakh residents, seems to be sitting on a ticking bomb as the fire department in Rajasthans capital struggles to upgrade its equipment and manpower to fight infernos.

Neighbours gave them shoes and wet handkerchiefs to help them enter the house. "Owners do not want to leave an inch of open space in their plots. But, similar promises made during the IOC depot fire in 2009 in the city, that claimed 12 lives, had failed to change the situation. feet out of the total covered area of the plot is often ignored. While 850 firemen are needed, there are just 269 men manning the fire stations.As per the National Building Code of India (NBCI), one fire tender is required for a population of 40,000. There is neither adequate staff nor proper training for the existing one. This is why instead of a permanent chief fire officer, a junior officer is occupying this post," he said. There was no water and firemen didnt have equipment."The authorities have also failed to use Rs 50 crore collected as fire cess over the past few years," he said. Soon after the January 13 tragedy in Vidyadhar Nagar colony, a candle march from the ill-fated house to a fire station at Bani Park was taken."Ten fire tenders purchased four years ago have been rendered useless due to a dispute between the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) and the disaster relief department," said a department insider.After the Vidyadhar Nagar incident, a Congress councillor sat on dharna at JMC headquarters and demanded resignation of the mayor.The disaster relief management machinery in the city failed to react to the distress calls of the victims as a phone at the district control room was defunct. They also didnt have door breakers, bolt cutters, hammers or any other tools."The firemen couldnt even open the fire tenders ladder or fix the water jets nozzle on the pipe," recalled a witness.The bungalow where the incident took place had no escape route. Nearly half of the states 192 local bodies do not have fire station.While the government agencies have a lot to answer, citizens too have to the share blame, said a municipal official."Officials said that fire fighters alone should not be blamed. The provision in building bye-laws to leave at least 10 sq.Jaipur fire departments inadequacies were exposed recently when a major blaze killed five people in a bungalow in upscale Vidyadhar Nagar colony. Those who leave open space in the plot end up covering it with iron grill, leaving no place to escape," said Shankar Lal, a building contractor."It was unfortunate that fire tender reached one and half hours late at a distance of less than a km. Most fire fighting vehicles are in a bad condition. Former MLA and spokesperson of the party, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas alleged that the JMC has become a den of corruption. "Whenever a fire breaks out in the Walled City, we use residential water tanks on terraces of high-rise buildings to sprinkle water on the blaze as our tenders cannot enter the area," said a fireman.No lessons learnt despite 2009 IOC depot fire in Sitapura industrial area that killed 12 people