Since 2018, Kerala has been witness to massive disasters like never before. From the deluge to the Brahmapuram dumpyard fire, each incident was unprecedented and dreadful in its own way. When looking at ground photographs from these disasters, one cannot miss the men and women in magenta uniforms or orange protective suits, often seen working closely with the fire force and police. They are the Kerala Civil Defence, a group of trained volunteers who step in to help the state’s Department of Fire and Rescue Services, simply out of social commitment. They were formed in 2018 during the floods and were later officially formed by a government order on August 30, 2019. It is headed by the director general of the Kerala Fire and Rescue Service. Across the state, 124 fire and rescue stations have their own Civil Defence units comprising 50 members each. The aim of the project is to convert 1% of the total population to first responders.

Currently, there are 6200 such volunteers in Kerala. Once they enrol, volunteers are given an initial training for three or five days at three levels — fire station, district, and state. They will also be given review training. All of them have other jobs, so they take leave to volunteer when there are disasters. They are not given any remuneration — not even their travel expenses are covered. When their services are required at a disaster site, the volunteers are informed through regional WhatsApp groups. Soon enough, there will be many of them present at disaster sites, expecting nothing in return. Their accommodation will almost always be arranged in schools or other public buildings.

Anu Chandrasekharan, Ernakulam region chief warden of Civil Defence, who is a hospital building consultant by profession, told TNM that among all the disasters since 2018 that he has been involved in – be it the floods, the landslides at Kavalappara and Pettimudi, or COVID 19 – the most challenging was the Brahmapuram mission. Around 450 Civil Defence volunteers, including 60 women, from 12 districts arrived in Ernakulam to help extinguish the fire at the dumpyard.

“Brahmapuram has been the toughest mission so far. Besides the fire force and the Civil Defence, no other organisation was involved in dousing the fire. No social media activists were also present. The landslides and floods had seen people doing many publicity stunts. But here, nobody came. Only those with real dedication can work in such terrible heat and smoke in the midst of waste heaps,” Anu said.

Anu Chandrasekharan

Some of the volunteers remained on the site till the fire was fully doused, while some others took turns. “I was there for 11 days in Brahmapuram. Like me, many others stayed throughout the time. Some came for a few days, went back to their individual works, and resumed again later. Most of our volunteers are not financially well off, there are daily wage workers among the volunteers, so everyone cannot afford to not work for many days,” Anu added.

Brahmapuram was a first of its kind mission for fire officials as well as for the volunteers. “We joined the Brahmapuram mission on March 4. Last year too, we had helped extinguish the fire that broke out in the dumpyard. The day we joined, the situation was at its worst, and the available force couldn’t do much. So we informed the Regional Fire Officer, who is in charge of Civil Defence, following which he intimidated other officers, to inform volunteers from other districts too. By March 6 and 7, volunteers from other districts came. Initially, we were in the front end, fighting the fire with the officials. Later we also had to make sure they got food and water on time. We were also engaged in getting sufficient water to vehicles and getting pumping materials. We were involved in all the activities involved,” Anu said.

The Fire and Rescue Services had given a list of challenges they faced in their report to the district Collector soon after the Brahmapuram mission started. Anu said that the Civil Defence too had to go through all those challenges. “It was a real struggle. There was an extreme shortage of masks required for working in the smoke, so we adjusted with N95 masks. Neither the officials nor us were well trained for such a situation. That was the first time we all faced that kind of disaster,” he said.

“Five Civil Defence volunteers were sent along with 10 firefighters. We too had to go through all the challenges that fire officials underwent there,” he added. “As the burning waste included plastic, when we sprayed water, extreme heat would come from the waste heap. We were stuck in heat and smoke, amidst heat waves that came from both above and below us. To help officials at the other end, we used to have to walk one or two kilometres in a furnace-like atmosphere, as vehicles could not move through the waste. Mobility was challenging,” he added.

Anu said that the dedication that each volunteer showed was exceptional. “We never felt like quitting, not even once. Each one of us was ready to do anything to put out the fire. We were divided into 10 sectors inside the dumpyard and water needed to be pumped to all these sectors continuously. That was the biggest task. There was no one to assign you duties, everyone just acted as per the situation. We made sure the officials had food, took care of the equipment, and facilitated communication between the fire fighters. We had to carry the food to them each time, by walking for kilometres. The whole Brahmapuram mission was a struggle,” Anu said.

Every day, around 75 volunteers from other districts used to travel to Brahmapuram to join the team. This meant that accommodation and food did not need to be arranged for them. They even spent out of their pockets for travel expenses to take part in the mission.