Incidents of fire due to crackers go up this year

Mumbai: While the number of firecrackers burst in the city saw a drop this year during Diwali, surprisingly the number of fire incidents due to firecrackers went up. During Diwali, the Mumbai fire brigade received 50 firecracker-related calls across the city as compared to 37, last year. However, the number of fires due to firecrackers this year is significantly lower than the figure in the year 2016, in which 83 calls were received.

According to the calls received on the BMC helpline number 1916, the maximum number of calls for fire due to firecrackers was reported from the suburbs this year. The most number of calls, that is 16, were received on November 7. Of them, 13 were received from eastern and western suburbs. Of the 15 calls received on November 8 on the day of Bali Pratipada, 10 were from the suburban areas.

Chief Fire Officer P. S. Rahangdale said, “While there is a rise in fire calls, there was no major fire. Flying crackers caused a majority of these fires, as they entered into people’s houses leading to blazes. Hence, we appeal to people not to burst flying crackers,” he said.

In 2016, a misfired firecracker had caused a massive blaze in a 10-storey commercial complex at Lower Parel. The blaze was confined to service ducts of the glass facade building.

Incidentally, there was also a minor dip in the injuries reported in the city due to firecrackers during Diwali. Five persons reported to state-run JJ Hospital after receiving injuries due to firecrackers.

Meanwhile, following a dip in the number of firecrackers burst in the city this Diwali, noise activists stated that despite several places in the city flouting the Supreme Court order of the 2-hour time period for bursting firecrackers this year, police action helped in curbing down on the bursting of noisy crackers beyond 10 pm at many places. This reflected in the city’s air quality, which was better than the last two years.