Villagers battle flames as fire truck arrives without water

Karwar:  Can you imagine a scene where a fire truck called in to douse fire arrives with an empty tank? This kind of scenario unfolded at Bedkani village of Siddapur taluk on Friday night and villagers were forced to battle the flames themselves.

As per reports Ganapati M Naik, a resident of Bedkani village noticed the fire in his cattle shed on Friday night and immediately called the fire department. His call, however, did not go through owing to some technical fault. Meanwhile, as the fire was slowly spreading, two villagers went on a bike to the fire station, which is about 6km from the village.

While the truck arrived at the village, the driver realised that its tank was empty. Villagers suggested that they could pump water into the tank from a nearby lake, but the officials told that the pump was defuct.

With no other option, the villagers tried to put off the fire by throwing buckets of water, mud and sand and finally succeeded in their attempt. However, by this time the cattle shed was gutted and Naik’s house too was damaged in the fire. The loss is estimated at Rs 30 lakhs.

Irked villagers later damaged the fire truck. Meanwhile, the fire official has claimed that the tank was not empty but owing to some technical issue, the water could not pump out. The villagers did not give enough time to the fire personnel and damaged the vehicle, he alleged.

Villagers, however, pointed out that the fire tender of Siddapur has not been repaired or replaced despite its sorry state for a long time now. It is also learnt that the landline of the Siddapur fire station has not been working for some days, moreover, the toll-free number 101 too does not connect to the station due to a technical problem.

Meanwhile, authorities have sought a report from the local fire officials on the allegations made by the villagers.