“When you are on call, it can make you say ‘God help me’, even if you are an atheist,” said Station Officer Rajesh Kumar Shukla. He had just come back from a fire call at Shivaji Bridge, in central Delhi. He isn’t sweating, but his face is still red and his khaki dungarees dampened to a darker shade of brown.

Shukla doesn’t look different from any fire-fighter after coming back after quelling a fire. The “red flower” that King Louie wanted from Mowgli in The Jungle Book usually meets these men in khaki as a foe. Which is why at  the Delhi Fire Department’s Headquarters in Connaught Lane, a poster declares, “Fire, friend or foe, we decide”.

Every day in the national capital, fire fighters put their lives at stake in answering fire calls. “It’s a very demanding job,” said Atul Garg, Deputy Chief of the Fire Department. “Every year during summers my kids want me to go on vacation with them, but agar hum hi chale jaenge toh aag kon bujhaega?” he said with a laugh.

These men who walk into burning buildings to save lives and property have been in the news of late, but their equipment and safety measures are not drastically different from those of any average bystander. “The dungaree is not fireproof but it is treated with a fire retardant that can resist fire for some time,” said Shukla. “Apart from this, we have helmets, gloves and gum boots. In terms of equipment, technology, we are still far behind the developed countries.”

The life of a fireman in Delhi is gruelling. “My shift is of 24 hours,” said one firefighter in the fire station at Safdarjung. “Any number of calls during that time, be it 3 or 30, I have to answer. After the shift is done, there is a rest period of 24 hours.”  For fire fighters like him, who are below the rank of a Station Officer, the day starts at 9.30am with the roll call and ends 24 hours later, at 9.30am. Sundays are like any other days in the week. They may be working days or not, based on the 24 hours shift schedule. For officers ranked Station Officer or above, the shifts are of 72 hours followed by 24-hour rest period.

Shukla wakes up at 5am. At 6 am, he goes for physical training, which includes fire drills and fitness exercise. This is followed by a vehicle cleaning session and the maintenance session of the station at 8am. At 9.30am, Shukla oversees the roll call as the shift changes.

Those starting the shift after the roll call, now check their equipment and the vehicle and wait in the barracks till the station receives a fire call.

Although response to a fire call depends on situation at hand, usually a team of six (one driver, one officer in-charge and four fire fighters) are dispatched. The positions of drivers and firefighters are not exclusive. The fire department has stopped hiring dedicated firefighters and drivers. Now, “fire operators” are hired and they do both jobs. “If you are driving on a particular day, you will only drive and not fight fire, and vice versa.’ Shukla said.

One of the biggest challenges facing the department is a manpower shortage. “There is a shortage of staff right now, about 40%,” said Garg. “We have told this to Delhi Subordinate Service Selection Board and they are looking into it.” He explained,”See, being a government body, I can’t hire myself. It is a process that takes time.”

The other problem is that the shortage of staff is making Connaught Fire station’s fire fighting vehicles unusable as there aren’t enough people to commission.

Back in Safdarjung Fire Station, sipping from a glass of chai, Ramesh* said that there was a recruitment drive last year around August and candidates appeared for a written test, but no new face ever appeared in the fire station. The shortage in staff has deprived him of many of his rest days, but Ramesh would rather save lives than rest. “It’s a humanitarian work. Punya ka kaam hai,” he said. (“It’s a virtuous work.”)      

Ramesh, as fire operator earns Rs 7,200 as basic pay. He, like all firefighters,  is not covered under any medical or life insurance. “The Kejriwal government has now announced a scheme that will give Rs 1 crore to a firefighter’s family in case he dies on job. But its implementation will take time,” Shukla said. It’s also not much help while the firefighters are alive. For injuries on job, a firefighter has no special medical insurance apart from the ones given to government employees.

“Once I was trying to quell a fire in A block Connaught place, I think it was  a NIT institute some two years back,” recalled Shukla. “I doused the fire thrice, but because of the heat the fire kept coming back. That night when I finally went home after finishing the fire, my wife looked at my back and said ‘What have you done?’ The heat had peeled off the skin of my back completely,”   Shukla recounts, with a proud smile on his face.

Spending a few hours with Delhi’s firemen is an eye-opener. The humility of these men — their courage and their motivation to save lives while risking their own — is beyond belief. Hundreds of men like Shukla and Ramesh get their backs burnt, only to return to the fire station after their 24-hour rest period, dismissing injuries and undaunted by the dangers that await them. “It is not a job for you if you don’t love it,” said Shukla. “It takes passion and dedication to go on doing this job. I love my job and that’s why I am able to do it. Even army has low action days during times of peace. We at the fire department, have none.”