Mangaluru airport to train hospitals for fire emergencies

Mangaluru: The Mangaluru International Airport will use its profound knowledge and capacity to adroitly handle fire emergencies and has taken up the task of spreading its knowledge in capacity building in handling fire emergencies in the hospitals around the Airport. In the coming months, the fire fighting force in the Airport will also train other facilities including the CISF personnel.

The Aerodrome Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) unit is the best equipped for handling any fire exigencies and it is pertinent that it must share its expertise with other organisations including the disaster management authority and the district Fire Brigade.

According to the spokesperson of the MIA, ARFF included doctors and paramedical professionals from hospitals with which MIA has an agreement to deal with any real-life emergency, as well as personnel from MIA's medical investigation room (MIA) and the Airport Health Organization (APHO). In the case of an emergency, the stakeholders were given a rough notion of their duties and responsibilities.

In addition to knowledge sharing, the ARFF held a modular test for stakeholders in preparation for a full-scale airport emergency. The test involved hospital personnel handling casualties at the casualty collection area as well as managing the crucial triage area, where 'patients' are treated and sent to designated hospitals for further care based on their "condition."

The ARFF has held two capacity-building workshops for Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services (KSF&ES) personnel so far, with a third session set for May 4th. The ARFF also held the first of four similar workshops for airline employees on April 13th.

In three batches, comparable training will be offered for troops from the CISF's aviation security group.