Story time on the criminal neglect of the Fire Brigade in #Karachi and equally horrendous civic sense of its citizens. This is my story.
It's around 9PM on a weekday at a mutlistorey residential complex in Clifton when our apartment starts smelling of burnt rubber. The family quickly moves around the house to investigate and realise it's not from inside the apartment.
So cautiously we open the front door and can see thick black smoke billowing from one of the apartments. Quickly I send the family down the stairs while I scrumage in my tool box for a spanner pliers and a torch. Also grab the car keys and a cloth heading to the basement
In the basement I quickly check on the wiring as the KE meters are all placed there all seemed well for the moment so I drive my car out of the basement and park it nearby but at a safe distance and head back to the building where crowds are gathering
So I ask people to move away to give access to the fire brigade that will show up shortly as they were clogging the way. Only to learn that what is now 15 mins into a fire no one had actually called the fire brigade. So I finally make the call and also to the ambulance service
Given the fact that none of the neighbors had actually warned us about the fire I asked if anyone had informed a couple of other families who had elderly folk around and they said no. So rushing back to the building I find the lift still functioning
The smoke is filling up so I head to the basement and after ensuring the lift is empty I switched it off but I got abuse for it from neighbors as they didnt want to walk down
I also turned off the gas supply to the building while at it
Then rushed back out and asked a couple of guys to help bring some elderly folk down. We carried them down on chairs several floors by now its 30 mins since I first realised there was a fire and i could hear the fire truck sirens in the distance
A friend texted saying there was a news ticker of a fire in a building and you didnt tell us on the alerts what if it was one of our people. Am like am pretty sure it's none of your folk coz it's my building
Now with all occupants of the building standing below it and blocking the path of the fire truck I had to move people out of the way. But stubborn as hell they were and wouldn't budge. The truck had arrived and couldnt move close to the building took us 5 mins to clear
The truck that arrived had a driver one supervisor and one other staffer. Yes a three man team. Clearly I'll equipped to fight a fire that was on the 3rd floor of the building. So I joined the supervisor showing him where the blaze was and explaining it was an electric fault
He had no mask and neither did the others and the smoke was getting thicker so I gave the wet towel I had pulled from my place and we used it turn by turn to investigate where to tackle the blaze from. We come down and his men were unrolling the hose reel
It was a heavy reel and two people couldnt manage so I pitched in also directing them on where to take it from that would save us some lenght and help reach as close as we could to the blaze as the hose was short
When connected and the water flowing the hose was leaking like a garden sprinkler from multiple spots and impacted the pressure significantly reluctantly the jet couldnt hit the source of the blaze
So I rushed back down only to find neighbors merrily prancing on the hose and around it and filling buckets to keep the water since the building suffered from major water woes
By this time an Edhi ambulance driver had arrived and he saw the state and brought a sheet from the ambulance and we tied the hose in places and that helped with the pressure
Suddenly I hear a woman screaming at the top of her lungs ran upstairs and found her cursing. Turns out she was still at home unaware of the fire so I tried to take her down
She refused to budge and was actually asking if I shut off the gas and abused me for doing so because she was cooking and her food was spoilt now. Taken aback I showed her the chaos around and left her. Cause she was adamant her cooking was to be saved.
We finally manage to extinguish the blaze an hour later because the fire service was struggling without tools to break the door behind which the fire had actually started. Nor was any further help arriving as they were short staffed
As soon as we got down blackened head to toe the people rushed to switch the power on but the fire supervisor and I were able to push them away. They didn't understand the risks and crucially didnt want to.
Again I asked around if anyone had called KE or some other electrician but as usual no one had so I made the call. They showed up half hour later and only 3 hours after that was the all clear given as the mains remained intact
The fire guys stuck around for a bit they cleaned up and talking to them I realised they had no foam, one pair of gloves, broken handle axe, one pliers and two helmets for the three of them
The driver was just the driver so any help he provided would be based on observing the actions of the other two
The report was filed and my contact was taken. When leaving they crew all came and shook my hands. What they said has remained with me for a long time. They'd been in service for 15 to 20 years but hadnt come across someone who knew what he was doing and were glad I was there
The real heroes were the fire guys who head straight in to the unknown risking life and limb daily without a second hesitation
The other super man was the ambulance driver who knew what to do and helped as well. So I asked him how and he said saheb what's better preventing someone from being harmed or transporting the body because I didnt do a thing
His story is that he chooses to respond to fire emergencies on a priority because he has realised just how inadequate the service is and had responded to over 25 in his two years of service
You'd have noticed there's alot of I did this I did that.. it's not for want of glory it's actually a cry .. a cry for help .. stop and help not become a nuisance like those neighbors of mine
This was the first fire in the building ever and the second happened a few months later again because some wise person decided to refuel the generator while it was on. People never learn and once again no one checked on neighbors to see if they were safe
Learn how to deal with such situations. The Fire Brigade in Karachi will gladly come to your school and teach the kids and it is FREE . Take your kids to the fire station and learn a thing or two there
@Aman_Foundation conducts Basic Life Safety courses that anyone can sign up for. Heck just save their number in your phone book if you can't do much else
Get yourself a fire extinguisher for your vehicle for your home and teach everyone how to use it. I've given people fire extinguishers as GIFTS for Eid Christmas Birthdays
Create Awareness
Create Awareness
Finally badger your government reps to ensure we get the fire services working for all. It's a miracle they are able to tackle even small fires.
Visit norbalm.com for all Safety and Security advice
This is from 2009. The fire service has worsened since that time and in the interim I've fought another 3 blazes with fire extinguishers I own. Including one in the building meters one car and a kitchen fire.
