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{{Short description|Fire department in Tamil Nadu, India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox fire department
| name = Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services
| logo = [[File:TamilNadu Logo.svg|200px]]
| motto = We Serve To Save
| staffing =
| established =
| annual calls =
| strength =
| budget =
| battalions =
| stations = 331
| engines =
| trucks =
| ladders =
| quints =
| squads =
| rescues =
| bulldozers =
| airplanes =
| helicopters =
| fireboats =
| tenders =
| hazmat =
| EMSunits = 33
| FirstResponderBLSorALS = [[Basic Life Support]]
| chief = Mr.Abhas Kumar IPS
| captain =
| superintendent=
| commissioner =
| district supervisor =
| website = [https://www.tnfrs.tn.gov.in// tnfrs.tn.gov.in]
}}

The '''Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services''' department is a service department of the [[Government of Tamil Nadu]] whose function is to fight fires and provide relief measures in times of calamities and disasters in [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref name="abtus">{{cite web |url=http://www.tnfrs.tn.nic.in/abt-us.htm |title=AIMS & OBJECTIVES of TNF&RS |work=Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services |access-date=6 December 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Book fair-Tamil Nadu-35th-Chennai-january-2012-part 20.JPG|thumb|right|300px|A fire truck in Chennai]]

Having 365 fire and rescue stations spread all over the state and 3 Rescue stations, one at [[Hogenakkal Falls|Hogenekal]], one at [[Kotagiri]] and other at Marina beach [[Marina Rescue station]] the department is currently the ''second largest in the country'' after the one in [[Uttar Pradesh]]. Currently, it has 7,347 personnel.<ref name="DetailedHistory"/>

==History==
Fire services in Tamil Nadu was introduced in 1908 with the formation of a Madras City Fire Brigade, a year after a major fire in the commissioner of revenue administration, land record office.<ref name="DetailedHistory">{{cite web |url= http://www.motorindiaonline.in/applications/tamil-nadu-fire-rescue-services/|title= On high alert to meet civic emergencies with motto 'We Serve to Save' |work=MotorIndia |access-date=14 December 2013}}</ref> Initially, the department comprised some steam or manually operated engines stationed in important parts, which were maintained by the Madras Corporation.<ref name="DepHistory">{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/TN-as-model-of-fire-safety-for-West-Bengal/articleshow/3606096.cms |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131214151459/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-10-17/chennai/27913835_1_fire-services-fire-stations-tamil-nadu-fire |url-status=live |archive-date=14 December 2013 |title= TN as model of fire safety for West Bengal |date= 17 October 2008 |work=The Times of India |access-date=14 December 2013}}</ref>

The organisation was based on British pattern and the real fillip came during 1942 at the time of the [[Second World War]]. During 1967, a separate department for Fire Services was created and all operations were brought under it.<ref name="DetailedHistory"/>

== Organisational structure ==
The headquarters of Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services department is in Chennai.<ref name="Sinnakani2007">{{cite book|author=R. Sinnakani|title=Tamil Nadu State: Thoothukudi District. ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWEwAQAAIAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Government of Tamil Nadu, Commissioner of Archives and Historical Research}}</ref>

The department is under the administrative control of the Home Department, Government of Tamil Nadu. An IPS Officer in the rank of Director General/ Additional Director General of Police is the Head of the department.
The regions of Tamil Nadu are divided into 32 Divisions, each Division being controlled by a Divisional Officer. Each Division has 4 to 16 Fire and Rescue Services Stations. As of 2011, there were 299 Fire and Rescue Services Stations throughout the State, apart from 2 exclusive Rescue Stations at Hogenakkal and Kothagiri.<ref name = "GovtReport">[http://www.investingintamilnadu.com/tamilnadu/doc/policy/2011-12/home_fire.pdf Home, Prohibition and Excise Department]</ref>

=== Hierarchy ===

* Director (''[[Director general (police)|DGP]] ranked [[Indian Police Service|IPS]] Officer'')
* Additional Director
* Joint Director
* Deputy Director
* District Fire Officer
* Assistant District Fire Officer
* Station Officer
* Assistant Station Officer
* Leading Fireman
* Senior Fireman
* Fireman

== Women in service ==
The department was the first to appoint a woman Fire Officer in the country.<ref name="centuryold">{{cite news |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/women-firefighters-soon-in-centuryold-male-bastion/586422/ |title=Women firefighters soon in century-old male bastion |date= 4 March 2010 |work=The Indian Express |location=Mumbai |access-date=9 December 2013}}</ref> In 2003, the department appointed 38-year-old Meenakshi Vijayakumar as a Divisional Fire Officer, making her the first female Fire Officer in the country. She was later awarded the President's Fire Service Medal for Gallantry in 2013 for a rescue operation in Chennai. Around the same time, Priya Ravichandran was appointed as its second woman officer.<ref name="indiasfirst">{{cite news |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/05spec.htm |title=Meet India's first woman fire officer |work=[[Rediff]] |date=5 August 2003 |access-date=6 December 2013}}</ref><ref name="presidentaward">{{cite news |url=http://newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/article1438348.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130162320/http://newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/article1438348.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 January 2013 |title=Woman fire officer to get President's Gallantry Medal |work=The New Indian Express |date= 28 January 2013 |access-date=8 December 2013}}</ref> She was posted in [[Coimbatore]] and later appointed as the Divisional Officer for Chennai, thus becoming the first woman in the country to hold the post of a divisional officer.<ref name="womanpower">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/womenpower-serving-to-save/article3425269.ece |title=Women-Power: Serving to save |date= 1 May 2012 |first=Petlee |last=Peter |work=The Hindu |access-date=9 December 2013}}</ref> This was followed up with the selection of eight more women officers in 2009.<ref name="stationofficer">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/training-for-women-station-fire-officers-begins/article185560.ece |title=Training for women station fire officers begins |date=17 September 2009 |work=The Hindu |location=Tambaram |access-date=6 December 2013}}</ref>
In 2013, the department inducted its second batch of women fire-fighters.<ref name="secondbatch">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/second-batch-of-women-firefighters-begins-training/article5328209.ece |title=Second batch of women firefighters begins training |first=Manikandan |last=K |date=8 November 2013 |work=The Hindu |access-date=6 December 2013}}</ref>

==Training facility==
The State Training Centre of the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services, earlier at Mint area in North Chennai, was shifted to its present location, [[Tambaram]] in the year 2000. The Tambaram facility is built on a six-acre land, which acts as a training ground for more than 2,000 personnel annually, including TNFRS freshers and fire officers, fire personnel from other states, firemen from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota and personnel from private firms in the city.<ref name="TrainingFacility">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/fire-training-regimes-hit/article697447.ece |title= Fire training regimes hit |work=The Hindu |date= 5 June 2013 |access-date=14 December 2013}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[National Disaster Management Authority (India)]]

== External links ==
*[http://www.tnfrs.tn.nic.in Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221193358/http://tnfrs.tn.nic.in/ |date=21 February 2014 }}
* https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2017/may/03/former-chennai-police-commissioner-s-george-is-dgp-fire--rescue-1600521.html

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Firefighting in India}}

[[Category:1967 establishments in Madras State]]
[[Category:Fire departments of India]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1967]]
[[Category:State agencies of Tamil Nadu]]

Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services - Revision history

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