18 October 2008

Fire safety in Bangalore to be YouTubed

Want to learn about fire safety in Namma Bangalore? Soon you will find help on internet. The Karnataka Fire Services Department is planning to upload fire safety video clips on popular video sharing sites including YouTube.This initiative is the brainchild of tech-savvy IPS officer B Dayananda, credited with starting the world’s first police blog in 2005. Dayananda told Bangalore Mirror: “Recently we took this decision to broadcast video clippings online. These will not only contain awareness programmes on disaster management and fire safety measures, but other information pertaining to the department.”“This is the best communication tool we could think of. It is not only more user-friendly, but will reduce the distance between people and the police department,” added Dayananda.YouTube clips are just an innovative way to keep the common man in alert mode. The other online initiatives of the department are a website for the department and the recent creation of a blog. For the record, Bangalore will be the second city to post videos on YouTube after Kolkata.“People are becoming more tech savvy. But long text seems too boring for them. That’s why we thought of introducing the concept of videos to spread social messages across the state,” said another official.Apart from educating and informing people, the fire department wants to review its work with the help of these videos. “We will videograph the scenes of fire and rescue. Through this, we can also judge where we went wrong and how things can be made better,” said Director General of Police (Fire Services) Jija Madhavan Hari Singh.Citizen journalists are most welcome to contribute their ideas and videos for the site. Videos will be made in a manner that interests all age groups.“Some videos are specifically made to educate kids about precautionary measures. Other videos will teach fire personnel smart ways to deal with tricky situations,” said Jija.With Bangalore being India’s silicon capital, it’s only apt that fire safety has gone the YouTube way.

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