With an aim to impart world class training and knowledge on fire fighting and safety measures, the state government is planning to set up a Fire Service Academy in Nadia.
The academy will come up on a 32 acre land in Kalyani. Senior officials of the state Fire and Emergency Services Department said it will be one of the biggest training academies in Asia where high quality trainings will be imparted among the students who will opt their career in the department.
In a unique initiative, the department is planning to train the security personnel, guards and the liftmen at various offices, residential complexes, hospitals and shopping malls about the fire safety measures. A senior official of the department said that major fire incidents could be averted if the security personnel can be trained how to deal with the situation in case of a fire incident. Most of the security persons at various office and residential buildings do not know how to extinguish fire as they have no such training. Keeping this in view, the Fire and Emergency Services Department has decided to start a course for the security personnel and liftmen.
Gour Prasad Ghosh, director of the state Fire and Emergency Services Department, said the security men will be trained how to extinguish fire at the primary level. They will be trained how to operate fire fighting mechanism that is installed in the buildings. This will decrease the number of fire incidents in the state.
“Fire tenders need some time to reach the spot. If the security personnel can be trained with fire fighting methods at the initial level, most of the fire incidents can be averted. As there is no proper knowledge among these people, it totally depends on the fire fighters in case of a fire incident,” Ghosh said.
The department has acquired the land and the fencing work along the boundary wall has already been done. According to a senior official of the department, the construction work will commence soon. A senior department official said steps have taken to start the project and all the formalities were being done. Fire department officials are yet to announce the cost of the entire project.
Ghosh also said: “After the completion of Fire Service Academy in Nadia, we will offer various courses on fire safety and fire fighting. Apart from the fire fighters within our department, security personnel at all high rise building in the city will be given training on how to operate fire fighting machinery. Most often the fire incidents at various high rise buildings and chemical factories cannot be checked as there are hardly any persons who have a basic understanding of fire fighting.”
There is an existing training centre of the department in Behala. But the proposed academy will have a world class infrastructure to impart best of knowledge and expertise.
More vacancies will be created and people will be inducted into the department once the academy becomes operational.
The academy will have the entirely modern infrastructure.