With over 400 emergency calls made to the Delhi Fire Services, the city this Diwali breached its 10-year high even as the festival witnessed incessant bursting of firecrackers notwithstanding appeals by authorities. No casualty or major injury, however, was reported.
According to senior fire officials, 290 fire-related calls were received till midnight, of which 46 came before 2 pm while 65 followed over the next six hours. They added that around 128 such calls were received in the next few hours till dawn.
After 8 pm, the fire control room was bombarded with calls and 55 of them were received in the next two hours. The worst span was between 10 pm and 12 midnight as 124 fire-related calls were received. “This Diwali, we witnessed a record number of incidents for the past 10 years, despite there being so much of awareness campaigns for promoting safety during the festival, which in itself is very shocking,” said Delhi Fire Services director A.K. Sharma.
He added that the fire department had effectively anticipated the situation and planned strategies accordingly. A fire official said that from 12 midnight till 8 pm on Thursday, the department received as many as 128 calls.
“Usually, the span between 6 pm and 9 pm is considered crucial as past record shows that the highest number of calls come during this period. But the trend changed this year with 151 calls received post 9 pm till midnight,” he added.
The fire services chief said that the strategies involved locating vulnerable spots and deploying adequate fire tenders, ensuring full attendance by cancelling all leaves and equipping the control room to deal with emergencies despite the severe staff crunch in the department. “We implemented the strategies to the best of our capacities and none of the fire incidents could take the shape of a major fire incident because of our alertness,” Mr Sharma said.
Among the areas where fire incidents were reported on Diwali were the Bawana Industrial Area and Mukundpur on the northwest fringes of the city and the Madanpur Khadar, Pul Prahladpur, Jal Vihar and Okhla Phase-I areas in southeast Delhi, fire officials said.
