22,786 fire incidents in Delhi during 2012

Delhi witnessed over 22,700 fire incidents during 2012, a marginal increase from previous year, though there has been a decrease in casualties.
The Delhi Fire Services received 22,786 calls in the last fiscal compared to 22,441 in 2011-12 and 22,187 in 2010-11. In 2008-09, the figure was 16,452 while it rose sharply to 21,314 in the next year.
Out of the total 22,786 fire incidents, nine were medium in nature and two serious, DFS chief A K Sharma told a press conference on the eve of the Fire Services Week.
Sharma said the number of injured has gone down from 2,132 in 2011-12 to 1,979 in the last fiscal. In 2008-09, the figure was 2,225 while it was 2,598 in 2009-10 and 2,613 in 2010-11.

The number of dead in these incidnets has declined. 285 people were killed in fire incidents in the last fiscal while it was 357 in the previous year.
In the past five fiscals, 2010-11 had the highest with 447 deaths folowed by 423 in 2009-10 and 380 in 2008-09.

Sharma said they have 2,058 personnel on its rolls as of now though the sanctioned strength is 3,468.
He said 15 new fire stations will be added to the city soon. Two stations at Civic Centre and Dallupura are ready for commissioning while land acquisition and construction work are at different stages on 13 sites, including Vasant Kunj, Yamuna Vihar, Rohini Sector-3, Mahipalpur and Okhla.

"Delhi government has also allotted 14 acres of land in Budhanpur Majra in north-west Delhi for setting up a fire training institute," he said.
On hospitals, Sharma said only 17 out of 38 Delhi government hospitals have got safety clearances. He said the remaining hospitals are in advance stages of implementing the fire safety measure.
A total of 1,707 fire safety certificates were issued in the last fiscal out of which 656 were schools.
As on date, he said, a total of 2,738 schools have complied of to safety norms.
During the Fire Services Week from April 14 to April 20, a series of lectures and demonstrations on fire safety and awareness will be held at different venues across the city, including schools and hospitals, Sharma said.