Over 200 calls to DFS during Diwali

NEW DELHI: The brave firefighters of Delhi Fire Service (DFS) continued with their regular duties on Diwali as well, with 204 calls of fire being received on the festive occasion. Delhi Police, meanwhile, received over 70 calls on illegal sale of firecrackers.

Data accessed by Millennium Post showed that on October 19, during peak hours (i.e. 6 pm to 11.59 pm), around 126 calls was received. Meanwhile, on October 20 (i.e. from 12 am to 6 am), around 59 calls were received. These calls also included house collapse, animal rescue and bird rescue.

In 2016, however, calls received during peak hours (6 pm to 11.59 pm) on Diwali evening were around 156 calls, while the next day (12 am to 6 am) saw 106 calls. The total calls received last year were 243

"We can say that call during peak hours have decreased this year," said Atul Garg, Chief Fire Officer, DFS.

The official added that this year, the highest number of calls received was from Janakpuri, i.e. 22 calls. This was followed by Roop Nagar with 12, Nehru Place with 11 calls, Moti Nagar and Geeta Colony with 12 calls each, and eight calls each were received from Rohini Sector-5 and Jahangirpuri. Areas like Naraina, Sadar Bazaar and Paschim Vihar did not report any fire incidents.

A DFS official stated that East Delhi and Central Delhi were the districts with the highest number of calls, whereas it was the least from South Delhi.

Notably, a fire of medium intensity occurred at Subhash Mohalla, Raghubarpura in Gandhi Nagar, where a godown with clothes caught fire. Between 2007 and 2017, the DFS has received more than 2,200 fire calls during Diwali.

Meanwhile, Garg added that before Diwali all 63 fire stations were on alert.

On October 18 and 19, more than 20 places were identified where fire tenders were ready to be deployed, in case an emergency occurred.