Mumbai Fire Brigade has made history by appointing Pallavi Patil, 29, as its first female driver-cum-operator.

MUMBAI: When you see a fire engine racing through Mumbai’s crowded streets with its sirens blaring next time, it could have a trailblazer at the wheel. On June 18, Mumbai Fire Brigade appointed Pallavi Patil, 29, as its first-ever woman driver-cum-operator, a historic milestone in the civic body’s century-old history, reports Richa Pinto.Attached to Bandra (W) fire station, Patil had been serving as a firewoman since joining the brigade in 2017. Her new post is the culmination of a dream that began far from Mumbai – on the dusty roads of her native village in Ahilyanagar. “I always loved driving,” Patil said. During her Std 10th vacation, she persuaded a relative to let her learn driving in his Hyundai i20. Soon, she graduated to driving small goods vehicles.It was purely out of interest. I never imagined then that one day I would be driving a fire engine,” Patil said, adding that it was her father’s dream that got her enrolled into the fire brigade. “My father always wanted to join the Indian Army, but family responsibilities meant he had to stay back and continue farming. About a decade ago, he came across a newspaper advertisement inviting women to join Mumbai Fire Brigade. He encouraged me to apply, believing the job would be life-changing. He told me it would give me the opportunity not only to save human lives but also those of voiceless animals. That belief came true just last week when our team was called to rescue a cat stranded in a housing society,” said Patil, a BSc graduate from Pune University. Patil’s parents are farmers in their native village, where they cultivate sugarcane and onions. After joining the fire brigade, Patil informed her seniors that she aspired to become a driver-cum-operator. “They were very encouraging, and the chief fire officer entrusted me with this job with a lot of confidence,” she said. Following specialised training at the Dindoshi Fire Training Centre, she learnt to manoeuvre one of the brigade’s largest and most challenging vehicles. One of her first assignments in the new role came within days of taking charge — a tree uprooted following heavy rains had crashed onto avehicle at Pali Hill in Bandra. Patil drove the fire engine to the spot, helped deploy equipment, and assisted in cutting and removing the fallen tree. Driving a nearly 29-foot-long fire engine through Mumbai’s congested roads is no ordinary task. Besides navigating traffic, the driver-cum-operator is also responsible for operating the water pump to ensure firefighters receive uninterrupted water supply. “The responsibility doesn’t end with driving. You have to think about where the vehicle should be stationed so firefighting operations can begin immediately,” Patil explained. Her experience as a firewoman over the past nine years, she says, has given her a clear understanding of emergency operations. Patil’s firefighting journey is also a family affair. She is married to Samadhan Patil, a fireman posted at the same Bandra fire station. The couple, parents to a six-year-old son, carefully coordinate their shifts so that one of them is always at home with their child. She said becoming Mumbai Fire Brigade’s first woman driver-cum-operator is not just a personal achievement but a signal that more women can take on frontline operational roles in emergency services traditionally dominated by men.