Sleep breaks instantly, conversations end mid-sentence, meals are abandoned without a second thought. Within seconds, boots hit the floor, gear is pulled on, and engines roar to life. “When we receive a fire call, we are ready to turn out within a minute,” says Mirza Karamatullah Baig, In-charge Station Fire Officer at Salarjung Museum fire station. “In that moment, nothing else exists. We leave everything behind. Our only focus is to save life and property.”
This instinct, immediate and unwavering, lies at the heart of firefighting. On National Fire Service Day, observed on April 14 to honour the 66 firefighters who lost their lives in the 1944 Bombay Dockyard explosion, their stories offer a glimpse into what it truly means to run towards danger when everyone else is running away.
Into the fire
For Baig, nearly three decades in service meant countless calls, each one unpredictable. One such night began at 2.30 a.m. on February 10, 2025, when a fire broke out at Madina and Abbas Tower. Baig had been at a family function. “I left immediately and reached the spot,” he recalls. The fire was unforgiving, of nearly 800 shops, 40 were gutted. Amid the chaos, he heard desperate cries, a watchman and his family trapped inside.
