The newly developed control room at Byculla of Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) which is believed to speed up rescue operations is likely to be opened next week. The integrated command control system is programmed in a way that it will bring down the response time by at least 6-8 minutes. It has always been observed that delay in fire engines reaching the accident spot has been due traffic or fire station being located at a distance. Such instances can now be avoided, as the control room will guide on the shortest routes and also give traffic updates. "The newly developed control room will facilitate real time coordination between the firemen and officials at the control room," said a senior official from the MFB. At present, all fire calls are communicated manually. The official said, "After getting disaster calls, the officials write down the details, and as per the area, the respective fire stations are according informed." However, the process takes time, and the operation is delayed. In addition, the control room is not aware about the whereabouts of the fire engine. "The control room gets update only after fire engines reached the spot and conveys the message about gravity of fire," said the official. He added that some time fire engines get struck in traffic and neither control room nor the caller is aware about this. "The new system will direct the fire engines to avoid routes with heavy traffic and take the shortest possible route, and incase there is traffic problem, the nearest fire stations will be informed without wasting time," said the official. He added that all the fire stations will be integrated and fire engines will be tracked through the GPS. The official said, "At present, the fire brigade is dependent on telephonic communication to exchange messages during disasters. The new system has been set up in all fire stations. This is likely to reduce time by at least 5 to 10 minutes." Normally, the fire engines reached the accident site in 15 to 20 minutes in the city while 20 to 25 minutes in suburbans. "Now, we can expect maximum 15 minutes to reach the site," added the official. The overall cost of the project is around Rs 60 crore that includes the maintenance of the system for seven years. HOW IT WILL WORK

Stay updated with all the Mumbai Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.