Fire brigade finds app-t way to get blaze, mishap alerts from citizens

Plan for mobile app to give real-time details of disaster calls being developed

MUMBAI: If all goes according to plan, citizens may soon be able to alert the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) about a disaster through an android mobile application.

An officer of the Mumbai Fire Brigade said, “The mobile application plan is in its primary stages. The fire brigade has conceptualised it and the design will be ready within a fortnight.”

The fire brigade recently sent a presentation on the application, its uses and purview to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) information technology department, an officer confirmed. Once completed and launched, the mobile application can be used for online complaints on fires, road accidents or accidents involving hazardous material.

The plan so far is to allow users to create a profile on the application, which can be used to send out alerts. On filing a com- plaint, the GIS will map the user’s location, and display the response time. The nearest fire station will be alerted for quicker disaster response. Users will also be able to upload photos of the spot.

The back-end system of the mobile application will log complaints and display its status in real-time. The application will also display all active disaster calls in the city at that moment, be it a fire, a house collapse, or a road accident, requiring the services of the fire brigade.

Currently, citizens have to dial 101 for fire brigade and 1916 for the civic body’s disaster control room. Under the current disaster response mechanism, either the central command room of BMC or the fire brigade gets a disaster call from citizens through the centralised helpline numbers. The call is then forwarded to the nearest fire station.