With one of the two fire tenders grounded for not being road worthy during monsoon, the Canacona fire station itself is in emergency.
The Canacona Fire station, attending to an average three emergency calls which often reach to 10 a day, finds itself in a precarious position. Both the fire tenders are two decades old, with one being grounded as its wipers are not in working condition.
The Canacona Fire Station, housed in a rented premises of Civil Supplies at Mastimol in Canacona, was inaugurated in 1998 basically to take care of fire incidents in the Taluka then. At present, it is now attending to all types of emergencies which include landslides, tree cutting under disaster management, uprooted trees, rescue operations, oil spillage, slippery roads, LPG tanker accidents and any type of other emergencies. Time and again the 25 staff at the fire station led by Station Fire Officer has been praised by all concerned due to their efforts in attending to all types of emergencies not only in the Taluka but beyond, sometimes even extending up to Balli in Quepem Taluka and saving properties and lives.
During the past one and half month the fire station was flooded with over 90 calls. Most of them for trees falling on houses or on the roads or on overhead electric lines, landslides, animal or human rescue, retrieving bodies, water logging, LPG gas tanker accidents and highway tree cutting and trimming. All the above has kept the fire personnel on their toes.
Inspection and inquiries by Herald at the fire station revealed that the building housing the fire station lacks proper basic facilities like toilets, bathrooms, rest rooms, etc.
The emergency BSNL telephone lines at the fire office often are not working in monsoon. This is a big concern to the people of Canacona as the emergency office cannot be reached.
