40 newly inducted firewomen join Hussaini building rescue operations
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER On frontline duty along with their male counterparts
Often women are able to handle bad situations with composure and calmness. And so it was that the first batch of women firefighters were seen pulling out people from the debris of Bhendi Bazaar’s 5-storey Hussaini building which collapsed on Thursday morning.
This was the first batch of 40 women firefighters who were put in the frontline of the rescue mission.
Interestingly, in the ongoing chaos and rush, few even noticed that there were women standing shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts in helping to rescue those buried in debris.
Avinash Shirke, fire inspector present at the accident site, said, “The women firefighter have been newly appointed and are still undergoing training. This was their first experience of rescuing people on the ground. Today's experience will help improve their confidence in tackling such situations.”
A women firefighter, while speaking to the Free Press Journal, who requested anonymity, said, “There are 69 firewomen currently training in the Mumbai Fire Brigade. Right now we are helping the firemen and also learning to use various instruments during rescue operations. We are now practicing the methods used to identifying people stuck under the debris.”
Over 125 fire brigade jawans were deployed to conduct the rescue operation. Two sniffer dogs were also brought to the site during the search operations. Along with Mumbai fire brigade, 30 teams from Maharashtra fire service were brought to the spot to help in providing protection. They formed human chains to barricade people from disrupting the operations.