The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) on Tuesday said it received over 300 calls on the Diwali festival regarding fires at garbage dumps due to bursting crackers and a blaze at a central Delhi market shop. Out of the total calls received, 245 were fire related calls till Sunday midnight, while 96 calls received till 10 am on Monday.
The officials however said that the calls received this year are much lesser as compared to the last year. Though, the officials added that the there is no decline in number of fire incidents in comparison to last year. "We received 245 fire-related calls till midnight on Diwali and most of the calls were related to blaze in open areas," said Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg, adding that the DFS received 271 calls last year.
As compared to previous years, there has been a decline in cases of fire triggered by burning or firecrackers, the officials said, adding they cannot provide the exact break-up of fire incidents caused due to crackers immediately as it needs to be analysed. Maximum calls were received from west, east, north, and southern parts of Delhi.
However, the use of firecrackers in Delhi on the festival of lights dropped this year, following the ban on selling of crackers to stop the increasing level of pollution post Deepwali festival.
Yet, there were violations and people in several parts of the national capital such as Jangpura, Lajpat Nagar, RK Puram, Malviya Nagar, Burari, Ashram burst firecrackers until at least midnight, two hours after the 10 PM deadline.
The only major fire incident reported this year was that at a shop in Sadar Bazar market. "The fire broke out in a shop that was housed on the fourth and fifth floors of the building and contained packaging materials and plastic toys, which were gutted in the blaze. The call about the blaze in the shop was received at 3 pm, after which 12 fire tenders were rushed and the blaze was brought under control by 4.25 pm," said a DFS official.
Apart from this, a fire was also broke out at a shop in Delhi's Jagatpuri area. The call about the fire was received at 2.51 pm after which six fire tenders were pressed into service. The fire was brought under control within an hour.
Further, this year, no injury or casualty was reported in any of the incident reported on the occasion of Diwali. "Fire incidents were reported at dumping grounds and houses due to domestic items, those related to electric wires and transformers. Garbage dumps at some areas also caught fire due to bursting of crackers," said the officials.
The DFS had not only deployed 2,000 officers across the city to tackle emergencies on Diwali, but had also stationed 25 officials to man its control room to deal with any fire-related calls. Besides the 61 permanent fire stations in the Delhi, the department had also set up temporary stations at different locations across the city.