Rescue at Vajpayee Nagar, Bangalore

From: Times of India

TOWERING COLLAPSE

From: Bangalore Mirror

14 floors of building under construction collapse

BANGALORE: Tower ‘C' of Prestige Shantiniketan, a township project on a 105-acre campus in Whitefield, came down crashing on Thursday evening. All the 14 floors of a portion of the tower collapsed. Four workers were injured.
Around 4.20 pm, one corner of the roof started to give in. Six floors of the block crashed suubsequently; the entire portion collapsed within the next half hour. About 60 workers working on the rooftop, removing the centring structure, ran to safety when the crash occurred. Fire force joint director B G Chengappa, who visited the spot, said the exact reason for the crash had to be ascertained by structural engineers. Prestige Group chairman Irfan Razack said there were no casualties, nor was any worker injured. IJM, a Malaysian infrastructure company, were the contractors for the project. Asked about the cause of the crash, he said: "We believe a concrete slab that was being laid fell, and that then had a cascading effect. While I don't think there's any structural problem, we will evaluate all possibilities that could have led to this." The fire force could not launch a full-fledged rescue operation for two and a half hours because of the gradual collapse. Even after all the 14 floors had crashed, raising a cloud of cement, rescue could not begin because of reduced visibility. Light evening showers further delayed the process. Later, the fire force abandoned the operation following assurances from the promoters that there were no workers in the building at the time of the crash. A project officer from the Prestige Group informed the police that one person was missing. Four workers who were at the bottom of the tower sustained injuries. They were taken to Vaidehi Hospital.

Fire services facilities under study

BANGALORE: The Fire and Emergency Services Department is undertaking a study of fire services facilities in all government buildings across the State, including the Vidhana Soudha, Vikasa Soudha, Visvesvaraya Towers and Multi-storeyed Building, said Director-General of Police (Fire and Emergency Services) Jija Madhavan Harisingh.
Making a presentation on “Disaster management” at a function organised by the Bangalore Management Association on Thursday, Ms. Harisingh said that Fire and Emergency Services personnel were assessing facilities for fire fighting, including the number of water hydrants, sprinklers and smoke detecting devices.

Lacuna
“We will point out the lacunas to the departments concerned and help them bring in related facilities,” she said.
The Public Works Department, which is maintaining Vidhana Soudha and Vikasa Soudha, will be informed about the facilities needed for these two buildings.
“This work is on since two months. We will cover all the government buildings in the State,” Ms. Harisingh said.

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.

Fireman gets Chief Minister’s Medal

S. Nagarajaiah
Chitradurga: “The profession of a fire fighter is a noble one as it provides the opportunity to save lives and property of the community. This profession has given me a lot of satisfaction”, said S. Nagarajaiah who recently received the Chief Minister’s Medal for his exemplary service. He has worked in four other districts before he was transferred to Chitradurga. Working as the Leading Fireman at Chitradurga Fire Station, this 55-year-old official is proud of his profession. Mr. Nagarajaiah says in his 30-year-long service as a fireman there have been incidents that have brought him both cheer and dismay. While dealing with fire mishaps, the effort is to save human lives. “Only when we are sure that human lives have been saved do we turn our attention to saving livestock and property. But unfortunately on certain occasions we cannot prevent casualties and that is what saddens me”. But sometimes when I am able to save lives, I feel satisfied. Recalling an incident that happened in Kolar a few years ago, he said they had saved the life of a person who had climbed on an overhead water tank to commit suicide. “We were told that he had some psychiatric problem and that he was a fan of Kannada actor Shankar Nag. So, to distract him, we sang songs of his liking even while we climbed the ladder to reach him on the water tank. The whole operation took two hours but we were successful in bringing him back alive”, said Mr. Nagarajaiah. When there is fire somewhere, traffic congestion, bad roads and narrow lanes cause delay in reaching the spot and that adds to the tragedy. “Nonetheless, with the available staff and fire equipment, we try to do our best to minimize the number of casualties and extent of property damage”.On the occasion , he thanked his senior officers and colleagues.

Car goesup in flames near Hudson Circle

GONE IN A JIFFY: A car with five passengers accidentally caught fire on Wednesday evening while it was stuck in traffic at Hudson Circle. The incident took place around 7 pm, when Srinivas Babu, editor of a local paper, tried to start his car. After smoke came out of the bonnet, Babu turned off the ignition. The fire started when he turned it on again. Soon after the occupants got down, the car went up in flames. Traffic was disrupted for half-an-hour till fire tenders extinguished the blaze. Police said rain had just stopped when the fire broke out. TOI reader S Siddhu sent us this photo

Dayananda, the blogger-cop

From Bangalore Mirror

Three drown in tank

CHICKBALLAPUR: Three persons, including two boys, drowned in a tank in Chintamani taluk of Chickballapur district on Sunday afternoon. The police said the three had gone to the Nekkundi tank for a swim. They drowned while playing with a log that was floating in the tank. The dead have been identified as Firdose (22), Mastan (10) and Imam Pasha (13). Personnel from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services removed the bodies from the tank in the evening. The Chintamani police have registered a case.

Fire in godown

HUBLI: Rubber and chemicals worth nearly Rs. 2.5 lakh were destroyed in a fire at the depot of the North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation here on Saturday. According to Fire Station Officer S.S. Channaveerashetti, the fire was noticed at around 11 a.m. at the godown of the depot on Gokul Road. The fire was brought under control after two hours. A short circuit is said to be the reason for the fire.

Boy drowns in well trying to catch fish

Staff Reporter
Bangalore: A 12-year-old boy who was trying to catch fish drowned in a well early on Sunday. The Basaveshwaranagar police gave the name of the victim as Sanjay (12), a sixth standard student and son of Raju, an autorickshaw driver.
They said that the incident occurred at Lakshminagar, where the victim lived. The police said that Sanjay had been trying to catch fish when he fell and drowned. The personnel from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services rushed to the spot and retrieved the body.