The fire-fighters of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) felt confident to tackle any emergency and disaster as all four fire-fighting sky-lifts became operational on Wednesday.
They became operational for the first time after the establishment of Emergency and Disaster Management Directorate.
The CDA had imported four fire-fighting snorkels worth millions of rupees to tackle any fire incident in buildings, particularly after an inferno gutted Shaheed-e-Millat Secretariat and the Marriott Hotel.
Since the establishment of the department, the fire apparatus had never been in a state of high preparedness; however after a month-long repair work by Finnish engineers, the sky-lifts could now be operated.
In this connection, the Emergency and Disaster Management Directorate held a demonstration of all four sky-lifts with the capacity of two each to reach heights of 68 and 29 meters respectively.
CDA Chairman Syed Tahir Shahbaz and Municipal Administration DDG Mansoor Ahmed Khan were also present on the occasion.
Clad in their uniforms, the four fire fighters reached up to the full heights of the sky-lifts and sprayed water to demonstrate their efficiency. On the sidelines, some other fire fighters demonstrated bringing the injured or the dead down from the fire buildings on stretchers.
The 68-meter snorkel took almost 10 minutes to reach its full height because the hydraulic machine needs to maintain its balance during the heightening operation.
The smaller sky-lifts were also used as aerial ladders could also be used to rescue people from the affected structures.
Mansoor Khan told the CDA Chairman that the Finnish engineers had reached Islamabad to repair the Branto snorkels.
He said the directorate was also equipped with a heavy fleet of 16 fire tenders with varying capacity of throwing water at a particular distance.
Moreover, Swiss trainers had also trained the CDA’s fire fighters and rescuers, adding that the directorate was equipped with the latest equipment such as ladders, pike poles, axes, cutting equipment, halogen bars, fire extinguishers, ventilating equipment, floodlights and hose ramps.
He said the directorate also had 17 dogs to detect humans from debris in case a building collapses.
However, despite its high preparedness, the CDA was still unable to reach all buildings in the capital because these some were fairly higher than 68 meters, the maximum reach of the sky-lifts.
Currently, the CDA’s existing sky-lifts would never be able to reach Islamabad Stock Exchange, Telecom Tower and Centaurus owing to tall heights.
However, CDA Chairman Tahir Shahbaz hoped that the CDA would continue to enhance its capacity to cope with future requirements.
He said the fire safety survey of Islamabad’s buildings was underway and action would be taken against the management concerned for not equipping their buildings with fire safety gadgets.
