It has been a while since my last blog. The Month of May was good despite the ongoing crisis. From physical live training, I was delivering training sessions online. As I sat down to write, my mobile buzzed and there was the breaking news of a famous young actor taking his own life. That set me thinking on what to write. This actor had everything going for him, fame, money, success and adulation. Not only being a good actor he was a good human who donated large amounts of money to charity and his death at his own hands shocked me. I began to wonder why one takes his own life. What made him to do it?

Now if you are all wondering is this going to be a motivational piece of writing. It certainly is not but I have decided to narrate the story of my friend who could have resorted to taking his life but did not. He too had everything going good for him in life. He had a good job, a beautiful family of his wife and son and was living a life of good quality. His job of being an Engineer onboard, a ship that took him all around the world and what not. In the year 2001, he was sailing along with his family and was incredibly happy as he was to sign off from the ship and head home as soon as the ship reaches Durban, South Africa the next day.
But life has its own twists and turns, fate has its own agenda and as the ship was cruising on the highseas, a big loud sound shattered it all. There was a huge explosion in the engine room of the ship and soon the entire ship’s engine room was on fire. He was caught bang in the middle of it all and before he could realize what was happening, all hell broke loose. He bore the brunt of it as he was very near to the explosion. Thank God as sailors were well trained in Emergency situations and large ships are equipped with the best firefighting systems, he was saved and his fellow sailors got him out of the inferno.

He suffered burns all over his upperbody and his life was in grave danger. The pain was unimaginable and the suffering was something only that person can understand. From the ship, he was shifted to a Hospital in Durban, South Africa, after 3 days for treatment. He was there in the hospital for almost 6 months. Then he was shifted to Nellore, Andhra Pradesh his hometown in India where he continued to be in hospital. He fought on every day not knowing whether he would be alive to see the next day. If not the pain, the trauma of it all, the recurring nightmares could have killed him. His relatives had given up hope of his survival and even instructed his wife to forget and move ahead in life. Indian Women are sentimental, emotional and very spiritual in nature. She had unflinching faith in God and that he would make it back. She nursed him, cared for him, prayed for him and motivated him to survive the most testing time of his life.

It is said when prayers go up, blessings descend and it was the prayers of whomsoever concerned about him through which the miracle of saving him was possible. He came out of the hospital and started his own business and today with two of my school mates, he has started an International School in Hyderabad providing a Comprehensive Education. He makes sure that every year there is a fire fighting training done at the school and all the teachers, support staff and students are trained on it. The scars are still there which serve as a grim reminder of the nightmare but they also tell a story of a man who never gave up.
PROUD OF YOU MY FRIEND and want you keep inspiring all of us. I never knew all this as we had lost contact for many years till we all met back in 2011. When he told me about this incident, I just could not believe it. He could have taken his life unable to bear the suffering but he did not. Not only him, there are countless people who suffer in Fire accidents and hence the responsibility is on all of us to keep our Homes and work places or any place for that matter Fire-Safe. The scars o the burns heal over time but the mental scars remain for a long time.

Fire safety is Everyone’s job and it does not have a holiday. The fire of life is too precious to be snuffed out.
Till my next blog, stay safe and be safe.

Seshadri Varadarajan.
9840814353.

There are many people in the world who do great things but some take it to a level that is never imagined. That is why they are called Legends and one of the Legends in Fire Safety Educators in India is Mr. MOIEZ AHMED. When I joined Usha Fire Safety in the year 2007, my Mentor Jagadish Adapa, a Legend himself, used to tell me to watch Moiez Ahmed in action and then you will understand what fire safety training is. I can still remember the day I met him in Hyderabad at a Fire Drill in an IT Company. Thousands of occupants had gathered in the fire drill and this man mesmerised them with his powerful oration. I was simply overwhelmed and became a very big fan of him.

I learnt the true meaning of passion by watching him. He is an individual who has dedicated himself to the cause of fire safety education and on a mission to make India Fire-Safe. First let me present his credentials before telling you more about him.

He holds a Diploma In fire engineering from National Fire Service College in Nagpur the only institution that offers Degrees and Diploma in Fire Engineering. After completing his diploma, he joined the Karnataka State Fire Services in 1971 and served for 29 long years till he took retirement voluntarily. He held many responsible positions and the prominent among them are :

Deputy Assistant Director of National Fire Service College.

Senior Instructor as Divisional Fire officer in R. A Fire Service College Bangalore.

Served as an N.C.C Instructor in the Indian Army and Instructor for the Karnataka State Home Guards for Civil Defence.

He has received the President’s medal for meritorious service in 1989 and 1998 and the Karnataka Chief Minister Medal in 1992.

In recognition of his services, the Karnataka state has made him the Chief Fire Warden of the Fire Services and he still serves in that capacity.

Though he has impressive credentials as a Fireman, his heart was always into educating people. There is no Fireman in India during his tenure in the fire services who is not trained by him. His passion found a calling after he retired and joined Usha Armour Private Ltd in Bangalore. Together with Mr. Jagdish and Jaysheel Adapa, the trio created a revolution in Fire Safety Training. Till date, he would have done 10000+ training sessions and still continues to do so. If at all I have been able to write it, it is because of them.

I always found it great to be in his company though they were very few. But just being with him gave you tremendous insights into the man who was so passionate about his work. I had gone to watch his training session in Bangalore and was sitting a little away from the crowd when he roared saying TOO FAR. He made me come forward and sit in front of him. After that, He told me that I had a lot to learn. After the session, he took me to the Brigade Road Fire Station and introduced me to Firemen who saved lives in a fire accident at Carlton Towers in Bangalore. Those moments spent with him are truly amazing for someone like me and shall always be in debt to that man. He used to have a lot of one liners for educators and few are reproduced as under.

People learn from cradle to grave, how they learn changes throughout the life.

Learn not to burn.

Effective fire and life safety educators are effective communicators.

It is not enough to tell people how to operate a fire extinguisher but tell them how to operate safely.

Open flame and naked light, in causing fire they find delight.

Faulty lines you often find, electric spark is seldom kind, better call a wireman bright for he will set it right.

There are many more like him who are unsung heroes and who do their job with passion, energy and selfless service. Leaders in the true sense who have inspired many a person like me. If at all Fire Drills and the post occupancy briefing are popular, it is because of people like Moiez Ahmed.

LONG LIVE THE MASTER OF THE FIRE DRILL, MR. MOIEZ AHMED.

See you all in my next blog till then, stay safe and be safe.

Seshadri Varadarajan
Mobile 9840814353.

Dear readers,

I know that every one of us is fighting the biggest crisis of mankind, the COVID 19 or the CORONA virus. All of us, wherever we are across the world, are in various stages of lock down and venturing out only to buy essential things for survival. We are fighting this battle by staying at Home but there are countless others who are fighting this war from the front, and are working round the clock to save us. They deserve gratitude and praise of the highest order from all of us.

If you are wondering is this a blog on Corona Virus, you are mistaken. This blog is a tribute to every FIREMAN who is fighting the battle of Corona along with everyone else. My tribute to them is to tell you all the History of Fire Service day in India

HISTORY OF FIRE SERVICE DAY —– INDIA.

The 14^th of April every year in India is celebrated as Fire Service day. When I tell the date to most people they immediately ask me what is so special about that day? What was the achievement of the firemen on that particular day? The day was one of the saddest events in the history of fire fighting. 66 firemen sacrificed their lives while fighting a fire and thus, the government of India has decided to call this year’s fire service day as MARTYRS DAY.

It was the year 1944 which was world war time. A ship by name S.SFORTSTIKINE belonging to the British Ministry of War and transport was docked in Mumbai city then known as Bombay. It contained 1395 tons of explosives, arms and ammunition.Under normal circumstances, the ship is not allowed to dock in the port but   the ship had a certificate Of Grave Urgency, hence it was allowed to dock. On 14^TH April around 2.00pm in the afternoon, smoke was noticed and the fire service was informed. They rushed to the spot to fight the fire but no one was aware what lay in store for them. Initially, they thought the fire was under control but it was not and more reinforcements were called and they too arrived. At 4.05pm there was a tremendous explosion in the ship and then all hell broke loose. All the nearby ships which were docked too were destroyed. The second explosion which occurred at 4.36pm shook the ship and went up 3000 feet high. The dock was on Fire for a few kilometres and the explosion was heard in many places.

336 people burned and 66 Firemen died. The number of injured was immense and even today there is no clear data of the number of deaths in this tragedy. Many Fire fighters were disabled and some of them lived to tell the tale to future generations. One such fire fighter was Mr. Meharvanjee who was 19 years old at that time. He recounted the tragedy many years later in an interview to a television channel.

Though late in the year 1968, the Government of India declared APRIL 14^TH as FIRE SERVICE DAY and the entire week is declared as Fire Service week. Let us all remember this date in the honour of all firemen who risk their lives to save ours. They are the unsung heroes of the society. I salute all the Firemen for their selfless service. Many today are joining the police or Armed forces but none prefers the fire services.

Continuing the tribute to the fire fighters I shall be writing about one of the legendary fire service personalities in my next blog. Until then, stay Home, stay Safe, in the fight against COVID-19.

SESHADRI VARADARAJAN.
9840814353.

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It’s been quite a while since I have posted a blog. A combination of factors such as a busy training schedule and health issues had taken over most of my time and hence the delay. However, as soon as the month of March comes to an end, I will be able to spare more time to write. Apologies to all my readers for the delay!

So far in all my blogs I have covered a lot of things on the Basics of Fire Safety. In my last blog, we have seen the media used for firefighting and I hope it was very useful to the readers. In this blog, let us go through the history of fire extinguishers. Though one may not need the knowledge of who patented or created the first extinguisher, it is always good to know the same.

The first fire extinguisher of which there is any record was patented in England in 1723 by Ambrose Godfrey, a celebrated chemist of that time. It consisted of a cask of fire-extinguishing liquid containing a pewter chamber of gunpowder. This was connected with a system of fuses which were ignited, exploding the gunpowder and scattering the solution. This device was probably used to a limited extent, as Bradley’s Weekly Messenger for November 7, 1729, refers to its efficiency in stopping a fire in London.

The modern-day dry powder fire extinguisher was invented by British Captain George William Manby in 1818; it consisted of a copper vessel of 3 gallons (13.6 litres) of pearl ash (potassium carbonate) solution contained within compressed air.

Pictures of some of the early extinguishers are as under.

The soda-acid extinguisher was first patented in 1866 by Francois Carlier of France, which mixed a solution of water and sodium bicarbonate with tartaric acid, producing the propellant CO₂ gas. A soda-acid extinguisher was patented in the U.S. in 1881 by Almon M.Granger. His extinguisher used the reaction between sodium bicarbonate solution and sulphuric acid to expel pressurized water onto a fire. A vial of concentrated sulphuric acid was suspended in the cylinder. Depending on the type of extinguisher, the vial of acid could be broken in one or two ways. One used a plunger to break the acid vial, while the second released a lead stopple that held the vial closed. Once the acid was mixed with the bicarbonate solution, carbon dioxide gas was expelled and thereby pressurized the water. The pressurized water was forced from the canister through a nozzle. This type of extinguisher was used for a very long time in India till new types were manufactured and adopted.

After the Soda Acid type came in the form of chemical and Mechanical foam-type extinguishers for use on Liquid fires. These type were normally cartridge-type extinguishers and were in vogue for a long time and in some places are still used though the governments have banned them from manufacture. Then came dry chemical powder type, with sodium bi carbonate as the main extinguishing agent. Today it is Mono Ammonium phosphate.

The carbon dioxide (CO₂) extinguisher was invented  by the Walter Kidde Company in 1924 in response to Bell Telephone’s request for an electrically non-conductive chemical for extinguishing the previously difficult-to-extinguish fires in telephone switchboards.CO₂ is still popular today as it is an ozone-friendly clean agent though it is a green-house gas. Carbon dioxide extinguishes fire mainly by displacing oxygen. It was once thought that it worked by cooling, although this effect on most fires is negligible. There were extinguishers with Carbon Tetra Chloride and Halon as extinguishing media which were later phased out due to various factors. Today they are replaced with environmentally friendly Clean Agent Gases.

Many of the early types of extinguishers were not easy to operate unless one was perfectly trained and sometimes if the fire extinguishers were not maintained properly they even exploded causing injury and sometimes death.
Below are some pictures of the extinguisher, including the ones used today.

I hope you would find the History interesting and I shall give you a lot more information on the types of extinguishers in my next blog.

Till then stay safe and be Happy!

Seshadri Varadarajan.
Sr. Corporate Trainer Usha Fire Safety.
M:0940814353.
You tube channel- Live and Let Live.