Jump in Diwali-related fire cases, but Delhi avoids serious

Firefighters attended to 211 Diwali-related fire incidents in the national capital this year, the highest in the last five years, although there was a decline in firecracker-related blazes this time.
All the fire incidents were minor and quickly dealt with. No casualties or any major loss of property was reported.
"The total number of calls received by us from the midnight of Oct. 23 to 7 A.M. Today is 287. Of this, 211 were Diwali-related incidents.
"Fifty-five incidents were caused by firecrackers. All these were minor incidents and no casualty was reported," said a fire official.
The 211 Diwali-related incidents this time are the highest in the last five years. In 2013, there were 177 such cases; in 2012 it was 184; in 2011 it was 206; in 2010 it was 169, and in 2009 it was 207, he said.

According to Delhi Fire Services (DFS), the span between 6 P.M. And 8 P.M. Is regarded as the peak hour for the bursting of firecrackers and this is when 20-25 calls were received last evening. Last year, fire officials had responded to 75 calls during the same period.

This year, the highest number of calls were received between 9 P.M. And 10 P.M. When firefighters had to rush to 37 locations to control blazes.
"The plan which we had drawn worked well. Neither did any major incident take place nor was anybody injured this year. This time, 55 incidents were caused by firecrackers as against around 70 last year.

"This number is neither very high nor appreciably low but it seems people took more precaution this time, although they did not pay heed to appeals for a firecracker-free Diwali," AK Sharma, Director of DFS, told PTI.
DFS had deployed fire tenders at 20 vulnerable locations in the city, including in congested areas and key market places, in addition to the 56 fire stations.
Around 1,800 DFS personnel out of its total strength of 3,000 were on duty while 175 to 180 fire-fighting vehicles, along with 25 to 30 other vehicles to provide logistics, were also operational, said Sharma.