MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 11: The fire-fighting unit of the Municipal Corporation Muzaffarabad is in a poor shape and people fear that a major fire incident can cause a disaster. However, the AJK government and the federal agencies engaged in the uplift of the quake-hit town seem to be ignoring this major threat public life and property, Dawn has learnt.

The unit comprises a fire officer and 18 subordinate employees. It has three vehicles—two trucks with water storage capacity of 1200 gallons each which were inducted in the eighties and a small pick up with storage capacity of 500 gallons purchased in 1998. Having exhausted what in technical terms is described as their ‘design-life’, these vehicles frequently develop mechanical faults which subsequently take them off the road.

“These worn-out vehicles can spell disaster in any major eventuality,” said one employee on condition of anonymity.

He said one big vehicle was particularly in a dilapidated condition but was being used despite warnings by its driver that the defect could, some day, cause a major road accident.

Apart from the shabby vehicles, the so called fire-fighting unit also lacks almost all other allied facilities such as cylindrical metal containers and protective kits.

The employees pointed out that in most areas of Muzaffarabad, narrow streets restricted access of the vehicles to the site of inferno and in such situations only long fire hoses could help put out fire.

However, they said the hoses provided with the vehicles were not in required lengths and also leaked at various spots which reduced water pressure.

They said they didn’t have arrangements to put out fire in the upper storeys of tall buildings.

Interestingly, same vehicles are also being used by the civic body to supply water in makeshift camps, mosques and other localities of the town facing water scarcity — a job which basically is of the public health engineering department.

Besides, at least one vehicle has to be kept stand-by at the helipads whenever any chopper makes landing in and around the town.

When contacted, MCM Administrator Zahid Amin admitted the shortcoming of the fire fighting unit and put the blame on resource constraints.

“We are running short of resources. That is why we have not been able to augment it,” he told Dawn.

He said that the fire-fighting unit was responsible for extinguishing blazes not only within their municipal limits but also in areas stretching beyond that, such as Noseri village in the northeast, Chakothi in the south and Kohala in the southwest of the capital.

Mr Amin said the civic body had made a request to the government long before the earthquake to augment its fire brigade.

Same request was again made to the government and also to the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) after the quake but it met a similar fate, he said.