Dimapur’s firemen: At the battlefront without protective gears

Dimapur, April 20 (EMN): The frontline workers at Assam-Nagaland border check gate and the Fire department personnel have been sanitising vehicles entering Nagaland since April 3.

However, they have been doing so without proper protection kits, food or water.

With no proper arrangements for protective gears, the team have been tirelessly working with just bleach solution and gumboots while disinfecting vehicles entering from outside the state.

Fire personnel are disinfecting all vehicles entering the state without any proper facility. At present, the supply of commodities from all parts of the country enters the state via road only.

At the check gate, four home guards personnel have been posted not only to register vehicles that enter from Assam, but also to perform thermal scanning.

According to them, two nurses were earlier in charge of the thermal scanning but the department concerned had called them back as they were required elsewhere.

The home guards personnel have been provided with only one hand glove for four people, to be used per shift. The government has not sanctioned any safety gear as of now but they have requested the department to look into the matter, they said.

They have also requested for raincoats to protect themselves from the bleach solution while spraying it on the vehicles, they informed.

The personnel on duty said they were yet to receive the requirements and had no choice but to continue working with what they had at the moment.

The only protection gear for firefighters on duty as of now were gumboots and masks. The Fire department is currently working in four shifts, with three people in each group working six hours per shift.

The group consists of two firemen and one driver, and even after their shifts are over, they have to stay at their designated camp till 8 am in the morning, they said.

When queried about the safety precaution, one of the firemen on duty said that they work at the gate for six hours and return to their respective camps. A family man with two sons, aged 10 and 12, he said that it was difficult but have to perform his duty.

He however wondered how he could protect himself wearing gumboots while sanitising the vehicles when he could not even protect his uniform from the bleach solution.

Even though he does not wear protective gear on duty, after reaching home, he said, he goes straight to the washroom to clean himself as a precautionary measure to protect his family since they are joint family.

Another fireman said that he had never experienced this kind of work even though the job was similar.

However, in this scenario, he could not see whether their job was successful or not, as in regular duty they are able to determine if the fire has been doused or not.

He misses his five-year-old son, but added: “What to do, it’s our duty.”

He further said that even his wife waits for updates about his work as she is always worried about the current situation, and the fact that he is deployed at the border.

One of the firemen, with two sons and a seven-year-old daughter, said that he had to protect his family and the state from the virus, but wondered how he could protect others when he himself was vulnerable without proper protective equipment.

The bleach solution has affected his eyes, he said, and added that they need protective gears.

They have not received any suitable gloves and the few that were provided have been torn off after using once. Therefore, they wash their hands every time after they sanitise vehicles.

Earlier they used the regular pipe to sanitise the vehicles, which was very difficult to handle but now they are using smaller pipes and it has become easier to handle, they informed.

“Even though it is a very difficult job, with teamwork it is very interesting and our job becomes easy,” they added.

It may be mentioned that according to the registration of vehicle entries, currently more than 100 vehicles enter Nagaland per day.