Uttarakhand News: In a state with difficult geographical conditions like Uttarakhand, only the team that reaches first at the time of any natural or man-made crisis is able to save people's lives. In this series, new steps are being taken towards making the Uttarakhand Fire Department more powerful and modern. 21 new trainee second officers of the department, after completing their six months of rigorous training from Orissa, have now started building practical understanding in the state. As part of a month-long practical exercise, all these young officers took a detailed tour of the State Emergency Operation Center on Monday. The main objective of this visit was to fully acquaint the officials with the entire disaster management system of the state, technical facilities and the actual process of mutual coordination between the departments.
Real religion is not just extinguishing fire but saving life.
Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority's Additional Chief Executive Officer Administration Prakash Chandra said an important thing while guiding the young officers. He clarified that in the modern era, the responsibility of the fire department is not limited to just controlling the fire. Uttarakhand constantly faces innumerable natural challenges like earthquakes, landslides, torrential rains, road accidents and rock slides. In such a very delicate and sensitive environment, the fire department actually emerges as the first security circle of the state i.e. the first responder. Whenever a major road accident occurs, mountains crack or a building collapses, these brave soldiers are the first to reach the spot and pull people out safely from the debris.
Success will come through modern technology and better coordination
Administrative officials advised the trainees to take full advantage of every single day of their practical training. In the modern era, many new equipment and modern rescue techniques have come for relief and rescue operations. Be it descending into deep trenches with the help of rope, searching for living people buried under debris or entering into the midst of a dangerous gas leak, it is important to have an understanding of scientific methods everywhere. Along with this, when a major accident occurs, many teams of police, health department, army, local administration and disaster management work together in the field. In such a situation, only mutual understanding and better coordination between all the agencies makes any operation completely successful. The officials stressed that they should understand all these links in depth so that accurate decisions can be taken without any delay in times of crisis.
Accurate loop of information from control room to ground
Additional Chief Executive Officer Implementation DIG Rajkumar Negi introduced the trainee officers to the complete functioning of the authority. He told how the State Emergency Operations Center acts as a main nerve center for the entire state. As soon as information about any untoward incident or disaster comes from any corner of the state, this center immediately comes into action. As soon as the information is received, an alert is sent simultaneously to the top officials of the concerned district, the affected department and the rescue teams deployed in the field. He explained that the faster the speed of information, the sooner relief material and rescue teams will be able to reach the spot. USDMA is also running continuous awareness campaigns to reduce disaster risk, prepare people and capacity development across the state.
Strong steps towards secure future of Uttarakhand
During this important training tour, Joint Chief Executive Officer Dinesh Kumar Punetha and Deputy Director of Fire Department S.K. Rana was also present. All the senior officers answered the questions of the trainees and taught them the tricks to deal with the practical difficulties faced at the ground level. The officials expressed confidence that on the strength of the technical knowledge gained from Orissa and the practical experience now gained in Dehradun, all these 21 young officers will serve the public with full devotion in the hilly and plain areas of the state in the times to come. In times of crisis, their training will act as a shield in saving the precious lives of people.
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