Fire, fire burning bright but no water to fight the blaze!

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: Imagine a scenario where firefighters are dispatched to a building engulfed in fire.

However the firefighters realise to their shock that they do not have adequate water supply at the pumping stations and are ordered to rely on other sources such as lakes and borewells on their way!

For the past few days, this has been the situation at the Fire and Emergency Services Department in Bengaluru which is suffering from its worst-ever water crisis.

According to the State Fire and Emergency Services Department, Bengaluru on an average reports more than 50 fire incidents per day.

The officials admit there is a water shortage and this situation has arrived earlier than expected.

"Usually, we face this situation in April or May, but it has started in early March this time," an official from Electronic City Fire Station said.

The water the fire station gets has been reduced to half adding to its woes. This water has to serve both the station and also the residential quarters of the staff, an official said.

Further when the personnel don't have adequate supply, they have to search for alternate sources such as lakes or some borewells on their way back to fill up the fire tenders before they leave for their next operation.

Around 4 am on Monday, a fire broke out at a warehouse of a supermarket near DoddaGubbi in Kothanur.

While no casualties were reported, valuables estimated to be worth Rs 18 crores were damaged in the fire.

Around eight fire tenders were pressed into service following the alert and after a few hours of continuous operation, the firemen brought the raging fire under control.

This warehouse, which was set up 15 years ago, used to supply rations to software companies and belongs to Gayatri Associate. Around 200 people were employed at the warehouse.

An official said that the operation had to be stopped for a brief period of time when the tankers ran out of water. The firefighters brought water from Manyata Tech Park, nearby apartments and swimming pools to douse the fire.

The officials along with the Kothanur police inspected the spot and suspected a short circuit to be the cause of fire. A case was registered regarding the incident.

However, the real concern of fire officials after the fire was doused, was to find a source to fill up the tankers so that they might be ready for their next operation.

In a separate incident, a diesel generator (DG) room of a cell phone network tower in Jigani caught fire on Monday afternoon.

The officials suspected that the fire might have been triggered from the generator.

Fire tenders from the Electronic City Station rushed to the spot and doused the fire before it could spread to other buildings nearby. Jigani Police inspected the spot and registered a case.