Question

Imagine you are a member of the fire brigade. Write a story about a forest fire you once had to tackle

Answer 1

                                                     Forest Fire

The phone in my fire-fighting office buzzed with the tone of urgency in it. I knew instinctively an emergency awaited us. The phone operator picked up the receiver and jotted down the important information which was to help the firefighter’s brigade to rush to. The operator rang the emergency bell signaling a firefighters unit was to be rushed to the nearby forest where a fire was growing alarmingly out of control.

I being a member of the unit, rushed to the firefighting vehicle. Within 10 minutes we reached the fire scene. The entire forest seemed to be engulfed in huge flames. We needed at least 40 firefighting vehicles along with continuous spray of fire extinguishers from the helicopters to contain and finally douse the fire.

Our leader radioed the headquarters for helicopters. Within 5 minutes the helicopters arrived on the scene. We had already started the spraying of water and fire extinguishing chemicals. A large crowd of volunteers gathered around the fire scene. Wild animals from the forest could be seen running across the road to the other side of the forest. Traffic was halted on the road. More back up firefighting units arrived; more helicopters were assigned the job of spraying water on the forest fire from above.

After continuous spraying from firefighting trucks and helicopters for ten hours, the forest fire was contained. Thousands of trees and animals were killed by the fury of the fire. Each unit member took sigh of relief after extinguishing the fire.      

Answer 2

I was posted at Sirmaur in Himachal district last year. The hills of Sirmaur provide a scenic beauty which is unpolluted by tourism. There are think forests all around and at such a height there is an educational institution which takes pride in its multi-storey buildings and infrastructure. That day we were at the fire station and it was about five in the evening when some villagers reported forest-fire in the adjoining area. In a short while we prepared are fire brigade trucks and headed for the place where the fire was reported.

When we reached in the forest, we realized that due to summer and dry wind the fire was almost uncontrollable. Nevertheless, we started using our equipment to control the intensity of fire. We struggled for almost two hours, but we were not able to completely extinguish it. Our means were running out and we had no alternative but to return and come again fully charged with the equipment and material needed.

Whole night the fire went on spreading, we were told  by the locals, so as soon as the sun rose, we started for the jungles and reached the area till where the fire had spread after we had left. Again we struggled for four hours before we could manage to control the fire and stop it completely. 

In my tenure I have had the experience of handling worst of fires, but this one was threatening and it took several hours. Fortunately, there were no causalities and we were able to bring condition under control.