Some 250 firemen with the Fire Brigade face uncertain futures, as the department under the city district government is likely to be wrapped up and merged with the more modern Rescue 1122 under the Punjab government.
The Fire Brigade dates back to before Partition in 1947 and has 13 stations and a headquarters at Town Hall. It has about 250 personnel and 15 fire trucks. However, the last major hiring and purchase of trucks took place over 10 years ago, though the British government donated two new trucks in 2006.
Major fire fighting operations in Lahore have been taken over by Rescue 1122, which has younger, fitter, better-trained and better-equipped fire fighters. Rescue 1122, which was started in 2004, is under provincial control and recently incorporated district government fire services in Faisalabad, Sialkot and Gujrat.
A Fire Brigade official who is in the union said that the department had been sidelined. “We cannot compete with 1122, but we are still effective fire fighters. We have a lot of experience and can pass it on to new recruits,” he said.
Another official said that the Fire Brigade dealt with some 20 emergencies per week. He said many of the fire fighters were over the age of 40 and not in the best physical shape to fight fires. Most of them were not educated past class eight, while Rescue has a minimum education requirement of FSc or equivalent.
He said that it was not clear what status the older fire fighters would have when they joined the provincial service, and that was why the union was reluctant to back a merger. “We are not opposed to joining 1122, but we need to know in advance what will happen to us,” he said.
A Rescue 1122 official said that after a merger, 1122 would have to send the fire fighters on training courses for around a year. Those that adapt would be kept on, while those that don’t would be let go, he said.
Fire officer Altaf told The Express Tribune that they were not sure when the merger would occur.
He said that three fire trucks were given to fire brigade in 2001 while two fire trucks were given by British government in 2006. He said that last induction was made in 2007 which was only to replace the out going fire fighters. He said that onwards only special induction has been made. He said that proper induction was done some 10 years back.
Tariq Zaman, the principal staff officer of the district coordination officer, said that he did not expect a merger to go though for another year. He said that it was on hold because of the Fire Brigade union.
Rescue 1122 Director General Rizwan Naseer said that the city government was dithering over the matter. He said that they had proposed that after merging with 1122 the Fire Brigade could be given responsibility for some low-risk areas. He said if the Fire Brigade under district governments had performed well, Rescue 1122 would not have been set up.
The Fire Brigade is regulated under the Local Government Ordinance 2001, while Rescue 1122 is regulated via the Emergency Services Act of 2006.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2011.
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