Chennai, Mar 20 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue services will induct women as firefighters in its force. Braj Kishore Ravi, Director General of Police and Director of the department in a statement said that the department has already sent a proposal to the government in this regard.

He said that while the Fire and Rescue services have 22 women officers but women as firefighters have never been included in the department till now.

The officer said that he would take steps to modernise the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) on par with international standards. He said that the department will provide the best training to personnel and equip them to handle any challenge.

A new academy for training of Fire and Rescue services near Tambaram in Chennai is coming up to train the fire and rescue personnel involved in rescue operations and disaster management.

The academy will also train personnel from the police in the protection, rescue, and relief of people and animals during calamity. He also said that TNFRS is in the process of developing a separate dog squad for the department and has bought four pups. These pups will undergo training at the National Dog training centre in Madhya Pradesh.

The trained dogs would be deployed to detect the presence of people and animals who are trapped in debris if a building collapse happens. The TNFRS will also train 1,00,000 people under the Safety Volunteers Scheme which at present has only 5000 trained volunteers.

The department is also expecting these volunteers to be part of the Fire and Rescue departments response team to rescue people and animals who are under crisis during a disaster.