PANCHKULA: Members of the House Owner Welfare Association (HOWA) have demanded a fire tender with hydraulic ladder for public safety. There are over 200 high rise buildings but only one hydraulic fire tender with its sensors out of order.
Association members said they raised the issue of the hydraulic ladder during a meeting with Haryana Assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta. Residents said that they informed Gupta about the poor condition of the hydraulic ladder fire tender with the fire station and demanded a new one.
Association chairman Bharat Hiteshi said that the Panchkula administration bought an old Hydraulic ladder fire tender from Faridabad in February 2018, but it was hardly used as its sensors were frequently out of order.
Hiteshi said there were almost 200 high rise buildings in Sector 20, Mansa Devi Complex and trans-Ghaggar sectors, where only the 60-meter hydraulic platform could reach to protect occupants in case of fire and emergencies. Association president B M Kaushik said that the present hydraulic platform would exceed its intended term of use this year, after which it would require frequent heavy repairs. Therefore, Kaushik demanded that the old platform be declared defunct and replaced immediately.
At present, Panchkula fire department has seven fire tenders, including an old hydraulic ladder fire tender, two well-equipped fire mototrcycles, aluminium suits for firemen to tackle major fire, 'fireball', a light weight ball containing chemicals to be thrown into the fire to control it. A fire sub-station was started in Sector 20 on the demand of residents.
