A clarification issued by the Fire & Emergency Services, Kohima (Nagaland Post, 21st June 2011, Page 1, ‘June 18 fire incident: Fire dptt. admits technical snag’) also doubled up as a rejoinder to some comments from the public and the article ‘Fires & Disaster (mis)Management’ (?) that appeared in some of the local dailies in the Sunday issue (19th June 2011).
The Fire department, clarifying that the fire was first detected by them at 12:15 am is totally baseless and fabricated (Nagaland Post, 19th June 2011, Page 1, ‘Sokhriezie T-Khel Market reduced to ashes’, 4th paragraph; The Sunday Mirror, 19th June 2011, Page 1, ‘Fire destroys 150 shops at Kohima BOC market’, 4th paragraph, 2nd sentence; The Morung Express, 19th June 2011, Page 1, ‘Where is Disaster Management in Nagaland?’, 4th paragraph, last sentence). It appears that the department is attempting a massive cover-up. When the undersigned reached the spot a couple of minutes before 12:15 am the fire was already a raging inferno and a fire tender of the Fire Department was already in action.
In my previous article I made a mistake in stating that the second fire engine was in action when I reached. It appears that it was the first. As for the departments contention that ‘five fire tenders at its disposal were pressed into service along with 28 personnel’ (Nagaland Post, 21st June 2011, Page 1, 4th paragraph), it appears they have forgotten that they had earlier fed the Press with entirely different figures. The department earlier stated (Nagaland Post, 19th June 2011) that 3 tankers (2+1) were pushed to the job with 13 personnel and that personnel on leave were also recalled back. Are so many on leave at the same time? Please make up your mind about how many!! You are contradicting yourself too much with the number of personnel and trucks.
Coming back to that morning, the second truck came with water more than 30 minutes after the first truck left. Luckily an Assam Rifles tanker supplied one load to the public to fight the fire. The third truck of the Fire Department arrived with water more than 1 hour after the second truck left. If there were so many personnel (28) then why were the public monitoring the hoses of the fire trucks? And please do not counter that these were your personnel in civvies (probably there were a few), as a number of the people trying to douse the fires with the hoses of the fire tenders are personally known to me; and I know they are NOT employees of the F & ES.
The F & ES should be equipped with the latest fire firefighting equipment but unfortunately the material supplied (heavy pumps/generator) are third rate or maintenance by the concerned personnel is lacking!! Or are they too old? Moreover, the department has also mentioned 5 fire tenders. Is that all the capital of Nagaland can afford? Then one wonders of the fate of the other towns of Nagaland. Anyway, if 5 fire tenders worked that night, it was definitely after 3:00 am when the fires had been largely controlled. Otherwise, with so many personnel and 5 fire tenders at 12:15, the fire should have been stopped within 20 minutes.
The pent up fury against the lackadaisical attitude of the fire department definitely made matters worse. That some people were in inebriated states, as claimed by the F & ES, violence was bound to happen. However, damage to a truck and attempt to assault some personnel (as stated by the department) is indeed most unfortunate and should not have happened.
The IGP (Fire Service) ‘assured that the department has to learn lessons from past incidents to plug loopholes’ (9th paragraph). One wonders how many more such lessons and at what cost!! Already this year alone we have seen 4 major fires.
In the 9th paragraph, people are criticized for commenting and writing without verifying facts. Dear Mr. IGP (Fire Service), for your kind information the undersigned was there from 12:15 am till about 4:30 am and was a witness to all the events that morning. What was written was what was seen; nothing more, nothing less!!
Yes, it is agreed that a few firemen gave their best. We salute them for whatever they could do under the circumstances. But please do not blame the public. Please do not also try to cover up your act as there were just too many witnesses.
Prof. G.T. Thong, Nagaland University
The Fire department, clarifying that the fire was first detected by them at 12:15 am is totally baseless and fabricated (Nagaland Post, 19th June 2011, Page 1, ‘Sokhriezie T-Khel Market reduced to ashes’, 4th paragraph; The Sunday Mirror, 19th June 2011, Page 1, ‘Fire destroys 150 shops at Kohima BOC market’, 4th paragraph, 2nd sentence; The Morung Express, 19th June 2011, Page 1, ‘Where is Disaster Management in Nagaland?’, 4th paragraph, last sentence). It appears that the department is attempting a massive cover-up. When the undersigned reached the spot a couple of minutes before 12:15 am the fire was already a raging inferno and a fire tender of the Fire Department was already in action.
In my previous article I made a mistake in stating that the second fire engine was in action when I reached. It appears that it was the first. As for the departments contention that ‘five fire tenders at its disposal were pressed into service along with 28 personnel’ (Nagaland Post, 21st June 2011, Page 1, 4th paragraph), it appears they have forgotten that they had earlier fed the Press with entirely different figures. The department earlier stated (Nagaland Post, 19th June 2011) that 3 tankers (2+1) were pushed to the job with 13 personnel and that personnel on leave were also recalled back. Are so many on leave at the same time? Please make up your mind about how many!! You are contradicting yourself too much with the number of personnel and trucks.
Coming back to that morning, the second truck came with water more than 30 minutes after the first truck left. Luckily an Assam Rifles tanker supplied one load to the public to fight the fire. The third truck of the Fire Department arrived with water more than 1 hour after the second truck left. If there were so many personnel (28) then why were the public monitoring the hoses of the fire trucks? And please do not counter that these were your personnel in civvies (probably there were a few), as a number of the people trying to douse the fires with the hoses of the fire tenders are personally known to me; and I know they are NOT employees of the F & ES.
The F & ES should be equipped with the latest fire firefighting equipment but unfortunately the material supplied (heavy pumps/generator) are third rate or maintenance by the concerned personnel is lacking!! Or are they too old? Moreover, the department has also mentioned 5 fire tenders. Is that all the capital of Nagaland can afford? Then one wonders of the fate of the other towns of Nagaland. Anyway, if 5 fire tenders worked that night, it was definitely after 3:00 am when the fires had been largely controlled. Otherwise, with so many personnel and 5 fire tenders at 12:15, the fire should have been stopped within 20 minutes.
The pent up fury against the lackadaisical attitude of the fire department definitely made matters worse. That some people were in inebriated states, as claimed by the F & ES, violence was bound to happen. However, damage to a truck and attempt to assault some personnel (as stated by the department) is indeed most unfortunate and should not have happened.
The IGP (Fire Service) ‘assured that the department has to learn lessons from past incidents to plug loopholes’ (9th paragraph). One wonders how many more such lessons and at what cost!! Already this year alone we have seen 4 major fires.
In the 9th paragraph, people are criticized for commenting and writing without verifying facts. Dear Mr. IGP (Fire Service), for your kind information the undersigned was there from 12:15 am till about 4:30 am and was a witness to all the events that morning. What was written was what was seen; nothing more, nothing less!!
Yes, it is agreed that a few firemen gave their best. We salute them for whatever they could do under the circumstances. But please do not blame the public. Please do not also try to cover up your act as there were just too many witnesses.
Prof. G.T. Thong, Nagaland University
