Blaze exposes fire threats in Darjeeling

Darjeeling, April 21(VIVEK CHHETRI) : Residents of Lebong woke up early this morning to prevent a fire from engulfing the locality but Darjeeling continues to sleep over the lack of proper fire-fighting utilities that threatens the tinderbox hill town.

The fire at Lebong started around 1am from a roadside eatery and razed 10 shops to the ground before the local people were alerted by the crackling sound of the wooden structures collapsing and the brightness of the blaze.

However, some people like Rangita Chhetri came to know about the incident too late. “I stay at Nalman gaon, and came to know about the incident only in the morning. By then, my shop was reduced to ashes.” Most of these shops had highly combustible items in them because of the nature of their business. “They have gas cylinders, oil and moreover the shops themselves are made of wood,” said a resident of the area.

Chitra Devi Thakur, who owned a small saloon, which was razed to the ground, said: “Since many of the structures were made of wood the fire spread very fast. None could salvage anything. ”A fire official said at least one gas cylinder had burst, a reason why the blaze spread so fast. Since most of these shops are dingy outlets with little space inside, nobody usually sleeps there at night. “Otherwise, there would have been human casualties too,” said a resident of the area.

Jharna Tamang, a resident of Lebong, said: “We are not sure where and how the fire started. Around 1.30am, there was a lot of commotion and residents came out of their houses and tried to bring the fire under control. Two vehicles from the Darjeeling fire station reached the spot half an hour later and brought the blaze under control.”

Officials at the Darjeeling fire station said the loss could have run into a few lakhs of rupees.

Residents of Lebong complained the fire brigades did take some time to reach the spot but the fire officials said it was the best they could do. The present fire station is located at Dali, about 3km from town, while Lebong is another 9km from Darjeeling. “The town had 113 fire hydrants in the 1950s but now there are only about 8 to 10 fire hydrants. With most part of Darjeeling virtually inaccessible to fire brigades, our task is even difficult,” said a fire official.

Whenever there is a fire, there are knee-jerk reactions from the residents of Darjeeling: a stream of protests for setting up more fire hydrants and the demand for a second fire station. But the town has failed to raise the issue persistently.

In March 2008, people of Pragrati Gram under the banner of Godawari Sangh had approached the fire department to set up another fire station in town and also to establish more hydrants following a blaze in the locality.

In response to the Sangh’s initiative, the director-general of West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services had asked the then subdivisional officer of Darjeeling then to identify a plot of land for the second fire station. But the administration is yet to identify a suitable land in town because of paucity of space.

Earlier, the fire station was located at Chowk Bazar in downtown Darjeeling but given the limited space, it was shifted to Dali in 2003. Only a small office of the department currently functions at Chowk Bazar.

To make the maximum of the situation, fire officials in Darjeeling have been concentrating on generating public awareness among the residents.

Between April 14 and 20, the fire department in Darjeeling observed the fire service week. “The theme of the week was Let’s Work Together for Fire Safe India,” said D. Lepcha, officer in charge of the Darjeeling station.

“We are now stressing on the need for the residents to help the fire personnel as they are the ones who would know the premises better than anyone else. They would know the outlay, the ventilation, the switches, the nearest source of water and other details. For one week we tried to disseminate this information to the masses,” said Lepcha.