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Delhi government has deployed two remote-controlled firefighting vehicles, equipped with a fire hose that can spray water up to 100 metres, to reduce the risks faced by firefighters during dousing operations in the city.
Officials said the two camera-mounted automated firefighting vehicles, which can spray 2,400 litres of water per minute, were bought from Austria at a cost of ₹ 3.5 crore each, adding that more such machines will be inducted into the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) based on the fire dousing performance of the two.
“Our government has procured remote-controlled firefighting machines. Our brave firemen can now fight fires from a maximum safe distance of up to 100 metres. This will help reduce collateral damage and save precious lives,” tweeted chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The remote-controlled firefighting vehicles will have greater accessibility to places and will be able to douse fires in narrow streets, warehouses, basements, stairs, forests, and enter places like oil and chemical tankers and factories, according to Delhi government officials who claimed Delhi is the first to use such devices in firefighting in the country.
The remote-confrolled firefighting vehicles have high resolution cameras capable of transmitting a clear picture of the fire, smoke and water during dousing operations, said officials.
Home minister Satyendar Jain said that these remote-controlled devices will prove to be major help for firefighters. “After the induction of these robots, there will be a drastic reduction in the risk that the firefighters have to put up with. Apart from this, these robots will also be capable of releasing water at high pressure, at the rate of 2,400 litres per minute. The wireless remote attached to this robot is capable of controlling the spray of water. This means that the robot will be able to douse fire even in places which firefighters cannot possibly access,” said Jain.
The machine is specially designed to withstand heat, can be operated from long distances and can reach inaccessible areas. Officials said firefighters can operate the machines from far, using a remote control panel tied to their waist. It is especially useful in dangerous situations, like a fire in chemical storage facilities, which are dangerous and risky for human intervention.
The trial of the remote controlled machines started from March 15 this year and these robots have been operational since then.
They were also used in Mundka, where a fire killed 27 people in a commercial building last week, and in Bawana, where at least one person died on Thursday.
DFS chief Atul Garg said that each of these machines is equipped with water pipes and is controlled using a wireless remote. “The robot, upon reaching the fire site, can then extract the smoke caused by the fire in the building through its ventilation system. These robots make use of high water pressure to douse the fire, spraying 2,400 liters of water in a minute. The water spray converts it into small droplets and scatters it up to an area of 100 metres,” said Garg.
“There is an increase in cases of large scale fire incidents every year, during the scorching summer days due to which it was decided to induct two such advanced robots in Delhi’s fire service to better equip the firefighters in tackling various challenging fire related incidents with relative ease. The robots were bought from an Austrian company. A few months ago the fire incident that happened in the PVC market of Tikri Kalan was controlled with the help of these robots,” Jain said.
Alok K N Mishra is a journalist with the Hindustan Times, New Delhi. He writes on governance, policy and politics. He is an ardent follower of politics and is fascinated about making politics work better for the middle-class and the poor. He loves to discuss and predict the national political behaviour. Before shifting to Delhi, he covered political instability, governance, and misgovernance besides Maoists insurgency in Jharkhand for almost half a decade. He started out in 2010 as a city reporter with Times of India, Patna. ...view detail
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