New Delhi: India is working on an overhaul of its firefighting vehicles—from identifying challenges in dense urban landscapes to building domestic testing capacity—as the government seeks to address critical gaps in fire safety infrastructure, according to two people aware of the development. The effort comes amid acute shortages of fire stations, equipment and personnel, raising concerns over response readiness as urban fire risks rise.
As part of the plan to ensure adequate fire safety preparedness, the heavy industries ministry has started consultations to identify challenges faced by firefighting vehicle makers—lack of indigenous testing, import dependence for high-tech components, varied regulatory requirements across states, etc.—the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity.
To be sure, after the 15th Finance Commission had noted deficiencies in fire safety resources and recommended a ₹5,000-crore scheme to upgrade infrastructure and availability of trained manpower, the Centre launched a scheme for expansion and modernization of fire services with the recommended corpus in July 2023.
India currently lacks any formal testing of firefighting vehicles and is considering setting up new facilities and upgrading existing testing agencies such as the Automotive Research Association of India (Arai) for the same, said the first person cited above. India manufactures about 4,100 fire fighting vehicles every year.
Arai, one of the country’s oldest and largest testing centres, certifies vehicles for Indian roads.
The government’s focus on the issue assumes significance, given that most urban fire incidents are caused or exacerbated by rapid urbanization, high population density and electrical failures.
The country’s fire safety system is underequipped and suffers considerable deficiencies, according to the Directorate General of Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards (DG Fire Safety). “Fire services lack proper type of rescue equipment, high pressure pumps, communication facilities and other specialist type of fire-fighting appliances/ equipment. A large number of state fire Services do not even have adequate conventional fire-fighting appliances like water tenders, portable pumps, etc.,” the nodal body for fire safety standards said on its website. “To provide fire-fighting cover in urban areas and extending timely fire cover in an emergency in a remotely located area is hardly possible.”
As against 70,868 fire stations as per Standing Fire Advisory Council norms, there are only 1,705 fire stations with 6,026 firefighting vehicles manned by a total of 49,769 fire professionals, according to the DG Fire Safety. A study commissioned by the Centre in 2015 also found that India had a shortage of about 559,000 fire personnel.
India has a 97.6% shortage of fire stations, 96.3% for firemen and 80.04 % for fire tenders and rescue vehicles, DG Fire Safety data showed. Urban fire services have 72.7% deficiency in fire stations, 78.8% in manpower and 22.4% in firefighting and rescue vehicles, it said.
Looking to boost the country’s fire safety, the heavy industries ministry started consultations with the industry in February 2026, one of the people cited above said. The goal was to first identify the challenges that manufacturers of firetrucks and their components face in India, the person said.
The second person said these discussions have so far focused on making firetrucks indigenously and even kickstarting manufacturing of certain hi-tech components that are currently imported.
“A crucial hurdle for the industry is the lack of testing infrastructure for these vehicles in the country, which was addressed. While there is no fixed plan yet, there are discussions currently about whether we can equip existing testing centres such as Arai with this capacity, or if we can set up a new testing facility altogether,” the second person said.
Large automakers such as Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland manufacture chassis for firetrucks, while the fabrication of the rest of the vehicle and fitting of firefighting components is done by smaller manufacturers in the country.
Queries emailed to the ministry of heavy industries, Arai, Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland on 23 April remained unanswered until press time.
According to data compiled by market intelligence firm Grand View Research in 2023, the value of India’s firefighting vehicle industry was about $400 million, capturing 9–10% of the global market worth about $4.3 billion. The global market value is projected to rise to about $7.3 billion by 2030, the estimates showed.
India recorded sales of 1,074 fire tenders and firefighting vehicles in fiscal year 2026 (FY26), up from 975 such vehicles in FY25, the government’s Vahan portal showed.
The government’s push comes amid India’s rapid urban expansion and a record ₹12.2 trillion capex outlay for FY27, with rising investments in infrastructure and public safety. It also aligns with efforts to strengthen urban local bodies, the primary users of firefighting systems.
Among key challenges here are the narrow urban roads, said experts.
“The width of roads in India is often not adequate, they are too narrow for firefighting vehicles to reach their destination,” said Debolina Kundu, director at the National Institute of Urban Affairs. “Demand for these vehicles is rising due to increased urbanization, both because of the expansion of existing cities outward as well as in situ urbanization of rural areas. New towns need to consider adequate road width while making new city plans,” she said.
Kundu also said that rising temperatures due to climate change have also contributed to an increase in urban fire incidents. “With temperatures rising, cases of urban fire incidents have also increased,” she said. City-level heat action plans with urban greens, rejuvenation of water bodies and nature-based solutions embedded in the strategy could reduce the incidence of fire in cities, Kundu added.
Fires were responsible for 1.6% of accidental deaths in India, as against 1.8% in 2022, according to the National Crime Records Bureau’s latest 2023 Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India report and that for the previous year. A total of 7,054 cases of fire accidents were reported in 2023, 6.8% less than 7,566 cases in the previous year; 7,054 incidents of fire accidents caused injuries to 284 persons and 6,891 deaths during 2023, said the report. Notably, about 54% of these fires had taken place in residential buildings.