ABSTRACT
Fire disasters are accompanied by devastating impacts affecting both lives and properties. The magnitude of the impacts has been severe in places with low levels of fire disaster preparedness. These hazards threaten millions of lives and cause large scale financial, infrastructure, agriculture and productivity losses that seriously hinder India’s overall development. A study was conducted by RMSI Pvt. Ltd. which was engaged by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India for the gap analysis in fire services in India in terms of deficiency of fire stations, fire personnel, fire fighting vehicles/appliances and specialized fire fighting equipment to determine the level of fire disaster preparedness considering the availability and condition of firefighting facilities as well as the knowledge on fire safety management among the states and UTs fire services in the country. In addition, the possible impacts of fire disasters in future for forest fires, industrial fires and fires in congested areas in the country were also studied at length and their mitigation measures have been recommended keeping in view the extant rules and regulations and Govt policies on the subject.
