Major fire mishap averted at airport in Odisha capital

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Mar 12:

A major fire accident was averted today at the Biju Patnaik International Airport in the Odisha capital as fire engines and CISF men rushed to the spot and doused the fire near the runway at peak time when aircrafts land and take off.

Smoke billowed out of the entire core area of the airport as a patch of grass near the runway, which had dried up due to the summer heat, caught fire apparently by a spark from outside. .

Fire personnel with fire tenders and CISF jawans on duty at the airport rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire by spraying it with water.   No major damage was reported due to the fire. But it certainly set the alarm bells ringing, especially in view of the fact that the summer has just about set in and is sure to get hotter with each passing day.

With the breaking out of fire at the airport today, questions have been raised over the security and safety of the aircrafts, runway, passengers and passenger terminal and the airport as a whole.

The Bhubaneswar airport authorities have written to the state Fire Services department requesting more protection and safety measures in view of the summer ahead.

Airing the concern, Director Biju Patnaik International Airport Sharad Kumar said; “We have spoken to the Collector and ADG Fire Services of the state government to augment the fire fighting arrangements at the airport. We need to be extra careful during this season – at least till the months of June-July – because any fire anywhere near the airport can prove disastrous.”

Clarifying that fires arising out of aircraft crashes were of different type and equipment used for controlling them are different, M Nageswar Rao, additional director general, Fire Services of the state government, said that firemen working at the three fire stations at Kalpana Square, State Secretariat and Chandrasekharpur have been imparted training on these type of fires.