Verna fire again exposes gaps in disaster response system; questions on preparedness resurface
PANAJI
The fire which gutted 33 cars at the Verna Industrial Estate on Tuesday has once again brought the focus back on Goa’s laggard disaster response and management apparatus and prompts the question: has the administration unlearnt the lessons of the Berger Becker Coatings Pvt Ltd factory fire at the Pilerne industrial estate two years ago?
From the experience at Verna on Tuesday, clearly, the State administration has done little or nothing between the time disaster hit Pilerne and now to advance industrial safety and secure the several industrial estates managed by the Goa Industrial Development Corporation.
A top official in the Fire and Emergency Services department admitted that responding to disasters and emergencies at industrial estates need to be taken more seriously and tackled with a different strategy as other domestic fires and emergencies are approached.
“Each industrial estate, at least the major ones where hundreds of units have operations mostly on two and three-shifts, will require an in-house response team which is multidisciplinary and includes firemen, skilled industrial safety hands among others,” the fire officer said.
The incident at Pilerne two years ago had fire service personnel using fire tenders and equipment brought in from fire stations across the State – Porvorim, Panaji, Mapusa, Ponda, Bicholim, Margao, Curchorem and two more from the nearby Naval station at Verem.
The scene wasn’t much different on Tuesday at Verna where fire-fighters from the Verna fire station had to requisition tenders from Vasco, Panaji, Margao, Ponda and Curchorem.
There is also no clarity on what action the State government has taken on a report submitted by a team of top Fire and Emergency Services officials after the Pilerne disaster which spoke of ensuring purpose-specific equipment to deal with industrial disasters.
The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) is headed by the Chief Minister and comprises heads of the PWD, electricity and several other departments. It is co-ordinated in each district by the respective Collectors but Tuesday’s response to the fire at Verna which gutted 33 cars demonstrates that lessons, if learnt, are lost or unlearnt in the passage of time, blemishing the efforts of the otherwise valiant firemen.
