In Vavuniya:

Fire Brigade on their toes

by Ananth PALAKIDNAR

The firemen of the Fire Brigade stationed in Chettikulam had doused fire which broke out on ten occasions. The firemen also rendered their assistance to pregnant mothers in the IDP centres in their deliveries, a spokesman for the Fire Department in Colombo said.Commenting on the role played by the Fire Brigade at the IDP centres in Vavuniya the spokesman of the brigade told the Sunday Observer that their men were positioned in Chettikulam, Vavuniya to render their assistance at the IDP centres."It is on the directive of the Colombo Municipal Commissioner Badhrani Jayawardene a Fire Brigade station was set up in Chettikulam in May this year to assist the IDP centres.Eighteen firemen with a fire engine and four ambulances of the Fire Brigade along with eleven other ambulances provided to the Fire Department are stationed at Chettikulam, Vavuniya.We are on duty around the clock and since the IDP centres were established in Vavuniya about ten fires have been doused by our men so far ", the spokesman said.He also added that the fire occurred in certain IDP camps due to smoking and when the fire was lit for cooking, however the timely intervention of the firemen had prevented any form of bigger damage.

Commenting on the first aid unit of the Fire Brigade based in Vavuniya the spokesman said,that the firemen had attended to around ten pregnant mothers when they developed labour pains. "Some mothers even delivered their babies inside the ambulances and the firemen had to attend to those deliveries,"the spokesman said.He also said that the firemen serving in Chettikulam,Vavuniya were from Colombo since there was no fire brigade in Vavuniya."Leaflets have also been distributed among the inmates at the IDP camps to caution them of fire and on how to call the firemen in case of a fire," the spokesman added.