City firefighters to get advanced breathing apparatus line

State fire and emergency department has introduced breathing apparatus line, an advanced equipment which will protect the fire fighting personnel in difficult situations.

Breathing apparatus line will help the fire fighting personnel to enter into the congested area without an oxygen cylinder. The fire fighters wearing oxygen masks connected to a cylinder outside will enter into the spots. A senior official of the state fire department said that firemen no longer needed to enter into a spot with an oxygen cylinder. Earlier, they used to face difficulties in fighting fire as they used to carry them on back. Around 20 breathing apparatus line have been procured and sent to different fire stations in the city. More such apparatus will be procured soon. Senior fire department officials said that the fire fighters used to face lot of difficulties at the time of extinguishing fire in a narrow and confined area. There had been instances that many fire fighting personnel falling ill due to suffocation in case of a fire in a congested area. As a result of this the department has taken up various steps to revamp the infrastructure. The breathing apparatus line will help to combat fire in a more effective way and will speed up the process. The cylinder that will supply oxygen to the mask through pipe will remain outside and it has a capacity to supply oxygen for more than one hour. Earlier, the cylinder weighing around 20 kg which the firemen used to carry would provide oxygen for only 20 minutes. It will help the firemen to enter in narrow places where it is not possible to enter with a cylinder on back. Gour Prasad Ghosh, Director of the State Fire and Emergency Service said: “We have bought 20 breathing apparatus line through which the fire personnel will be able to enter into a spot without a carrying an oxygen cylinder. They will wear a mask that will be connected to an oxygen cylinder.