Mumbai Fire Brigade to buy water tower vehicle at Rs 12.39 crore

water tower vehicle will help while handling blazes in tall buildings on narrow roads, and in sprawling chawl's where access is difficult. Picture/Facebook Mumbai Fire Brigade

Mumbai's Fire Brigade is all set to buy a 55-meter high water tower to stretch its reach to the dense, narrow lanes area. As per the proposal by the Mumbai Fire Brigade, the tower will help to reach up to a 50-meter long area. The cost of the tower is estimated to be at Rs 12.39 crores.

In the last few years, MFB has bought upgraded fire dousing engineers including fire fighting robot and Hazmat vans. Now, going one step ahead, the fire brigade is now going to buy a water tower vehicle. The water tower vehicle will help while handling blazes in tall buildings on narrow roads, and in sprawling chawls where access is difficult.

Most of the fire incidents accidents turn into major incidents as MFB's fire engineers can't go to the spot due to narrow lanes, double parking on the roads or due to huge slum pockets without any proper roads. Mumbai will be the only fire brigade in the country to have such a vehicle.

An officer from MFB said, "48 percent of the Mumbai's 1.24 crore population stays in the slum. There are big slum areas like Behrampada, Bandra-Garib Nagar, Dharavi, Vikroli- park site, etc. Even at the time of the fire in towers, the fire brigade can't reach to the floor due to the narrow area around the spot of the incident. There is also a challenge to douse off the fire in a densely populated area like Bhendi Bazaar. Kalbadevi, Bhuleshwar."

He further added, "Articulated booms and water monitor in the vehicle will help to reach up to the 50-meter long area."
Earlier, Mumbai Fire Brigade had invited tenders in February 2019 but the tender deadline was extended twice as it didn't receive a good response.

As per the proposal submitted by MFB to the BMC's standing committee, M/S Techchand and sons have given the lowest bid at Rs 12.39 crores with all taxes. The cost includes two years warranty and maintenance of 5 years. There is a provision of Rs 35.10 crores in the budget for 2019-20.

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