Jam on arterial roads chokes emergency services

CHENNAI:  The fire accident that occurred on Mount Road on Tuesday caused traffic jams that left even fire tenders stranded. Unable to move even an inch through the heavy peak hour traffic, the fire tenders just stood there with lights flashing and the siren blaring. For instance, a fire tender was lodged at the same spot for well over 15 minutes on Kodambakkam High Road, time that was meant to be spent fighting the blaze. This only brought the focus to what ails our emergency services—fire tenders and ambulances.Restless motorists kept staring at the fire engine, some even asking the driver to turn the siren off. Stuck in the middle of a traffic pile up that stretched from the Kodambakkam High Road-Nungambakkam High Road junction, the firemen received no assistance from police personnel either.“We need to set up a Green Channel for ambulances and fire tenders, so that they can get to their destinations quickly. Plans were made to set one up, but they have not come to anything,” said R Nataraj, who recently retired as director of the Fire & Rescue Ser­vices Department (F&RS).He says Chennai’s police force has what it takes to implement a Green Channel where necessary. “Our boys have done it before. It is not being done anymore. They just need direction from their leadership.”  He says the F&RS department is already making attempts to slash their response time by going in for smaller vehicles, which can move through traffic faster than their larger counterparts. “Small trucks and motorcycle squads are the way forward, but the creation of water points all over the city is crucial for their success,” Nataraj adds.In agreement with his line of thought is M S Ramesh, spokesperson of the Fire and Security Association of India. “We need to set up a system with large underground water storage tanks at nodal points,” he says.But even as the experts hammer out solutions to make way for fire tenders and ambulances, they are extremely clear about one thing—prevention is better than cure. “Seventy per cent of Chennai’s fire accidents happen due to electrical short circuits. People should use fire-proof wiring. They should also voluntarily take up periodic fire audits,” says Nataraj.