Water-mist motorcycles to beef up Gurugram’s fire-fighting capacity

The Gurugram fire department will soon be better equipped to deal with fires that break out in congested areas or narrow lanes in the city, as officials said that eight water mist motorcycles and a pickup van will be added to its fleet on Tuesday.

The move is expected to significantly reduce the response time of the department, especially in areas such as Sadar Bazaar, Jacobpura, DLF Phase 1 market, DLF Galleria market, Islampur and Jharsa village, where teams have faced difficulties in the past with the movement of fire tenders restricted due to factors such as narrow width of roads, encroachment, or congestion.

HT had reported on June 2 that the Gurugram fire department will add these motorcycles in the next 2 to 3 months.

“We have sent our personnel to procure the motorcycles from the Haryana directorate of supplies in Panchkula. The motorcycles will arrive in Gurugram by Tuesday,” IS Kashyap, assistant divisional safety officer, said.

Accotrding to officials of the fire department, each Royal Enfield motorcycle will cost ₹6.5 lakh and will be fitted with portable water-cum-foam jets, which will be able to reach a height of approximately 18 metres and release a mixture of foam and water at high pressure to douse flames.

This mixture of foam and water, officials say, is ideal for electrical fires as neither is a good conductor of electricity.

“Overall, 102 motorcycles are being added to the fire departments across Haryana. One such motorcycle was added to Mewat (Nuh) on Thursday. A pickup van has also been added to the fleet, which will transport staff during a ‘shift change’ in the event of a major fire and will also allow transfer of equipment such as hose pipes and water pumps,” Kashyap said.

The decision to add such vehicles to the fleet of fire departments across Haryana was made after they were purchased by the Chandigarh fire department in January and were found to be viable additions.

Officials from the Gurugram fire department have, in the past, acknowledged that such motorcycles could have reduced the losses in blazes that broke out in the city in the recent past. They even cited the example of a fire that broke out in a clothing shop in Islampur on May 4, burning down the establishment and gutting all the goods inside it.

It took fire department officials more than 40 minutes to reach the spot, as the lanes leading up to the shop were extremely narrow.