As Delhiites celebrated the festival of lights on Thursday night by bursting firecrackers, 204 fire-related incidents were reported in the national Capital, as against 350 on last Diwali. The 204 fires reported this year included a big blaze in a godown in East Delhi on Thursday night, fire department officials said on Friday. According to the data compiled by Delhi Fire Service (DFS), out of 204 calls made to the fire department, 51 were related to crackers.
“A blaze was reported from the Subhash Mohalla area in East Delhi around 10:10 pm at a cloth godown. Twenty-six fire tenders were sent to the spot. However, no injury was reported in this case,” an official said on Friday. “It was a three-storey building. The case is being investigated by the police,” he said.
The 204 calls to DFS were made between midnight of October 18 and Diwali midnight. “last year 243 calls were received by the DFS control room, between 5 pm and midnight on Diwali, and another 107 calls between midnight and morning,” the DFS official added. He said fire-related calls were received post-Diwali midnight as well. “Following Diwali midnight, so far 75 calls have been received on Friday,” he said.
Besides 59 permanent fire stations in the city, the DFS had also set up temporary stations at 28 locations, from where the maximum number of calls were received on Diwali last year. The DFS had also increased the number of phone lines to the control room.