More than 300 cases of fire, 1 death reported from across national Capital on Diwali

Over 300 calls related to minor fire incidents were received by authorities from across the national Capital during Diwali festivities, in which 10 to 11 people, including a child, sustained burn injuries. 

A teenaged girl died of burns on Diwali even as the city’s fire department received a complaint calls every two-and-a-half minutes related to minor fire incidents.

The Delhi fire department received 243 calls till 12 pm while another 107 calls were attended to between midnight and morning, an official said.

The major fire incident was reported from South-east Delhi’s Amar Colony area from where more than 30 women were rescued after a fire broke out in a three-storeyed building. The incident was reported to the police and the fire department at around 11 pm when three fire tenders were rushed to the spot.

Some locals made a call to the police and fire department after noticing smoke coming out from the first floor. When the team of fire department reached the spot, the first floor was gutted and the flames had started reaching the second and third floors. 

While the fire tenders were dousing the fire, around 23 women and eight elderly women were rescued safe from the building. Most of them were staying as paying guests in the building. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, police said.

Meanwhile, in another incident, one woman and a child received burn injuries when a roadside firecracker stall caught fire around 3 pm at West Delhi’s Mohan Garden area on Sunday, a senior Delhi fire services officer said.

The fire department further added that 40 calls were received during the peak hours from 8 pm to 10 pm, when the department receives maximum fire calls as festivities peak in the form of incessant fireworks and lighting of earthen lamps.

Besides the 59 permanent fire stations, the fire services had set up temporary stations at 22 locations across the city from where maximum calls were received during last year’s Diwali.

The authorities had also increased the number of phone lines to the control room in view of the increased number of fire calls on Diwali and temporary stations at 22 locations across the city were also set up.

Chief Fire Officer G C Mishra said that 1,500 firefighters along with back-up teams in the control room, workshops and other departments were on duty to tackle emergencies. “The number of phone lines were increased and temporary stations at 22 locations across Delhi were set up,” another fire official said.

Last year, 290 fire incidents were reported during Diwali till midnight, and over 500 cases of injuries caused by fire crackers across the national Capital. Despite decline in the number of fire incidents over last year, the fire department reported its maximum staff usage this Diwali.

The fire department has 59 permanent fire stations across the Capital. Officials said that they received few hoax calls as well. Apart from the fire calls, Safdarjung hospital received 142 burns patients, of whom only 11 were admitted in the hospital as they had sustained more than 15 per cent burn injuries.

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) spokesperson Amit Gupta that its emergency ward received 295 patients on Sunday evening but they were unrelated to Diwali fire incidents .

“Usually we receive 195 patients everyday in the night hours but on Sunday night we received 295 patients. Most of the cases were related to assault, accidents,” Gupta said.