NEW DELHI, Oct 31: A teenaged girl died of burns on Diwali even as the city’s fire department received a complaint calls every two-and-a-half minutes related to minor fire incidents.
Over 300 calls related to fire incidents were received by the fire control room from across the national capital during Diwali festivities.
The Delhi Fire Services control room received 243 calls between 5 PM and midnight on Diwali and another 107 calls were attended to between midnight and morning, said a senior Delhi Fire Services officer. A day before Diwali, the fire control room received 126 calls, added the officer.
In the review meeting held today, yesterday’s situation was analysed and it was felt that the department did its job well in ensuring that minor and medium fires were not allowed to transform into anything major, said the officer.
“Every two-and-a-half minutes, we received one call. In the last two-and-a-half days, we have attended to more than 200 calls every day. This is more than the number of calls that we get during summer, which is a peak time for us. In May, we attend to 150 calls every day. On a normal day, we attend to an average of 80 calls,” said GC Mishra, Director, Delhi Fire Services.
Majority of fire incidents were reported from north and north-west Delhi. Last year, majority of fire incidents were reported from South Delhi, officials said.
Even though no major fire incident was reported in the capital, one girl died and four people were injured in separate incidents across the city.
“An 18-year-old girl died after a makeshift shop where she was buying decorative items caught fire. The fire started due to sparking in the transformer and the shop selling decorative items caught fire which was further intensified as the crackers burst,” said a senior police officer.
The girl, identified as Chandni died due to burns and a child sustained minor injuries due to the incident. The owner of the shop, Sunil Kumar Jain, has been booked, he said.
The Delhi Fire Services had made special arrangements to tackle fire-related calls which were put in place a day before Diwali. Firetenders were deployed in anticipation of any incident at half a dozen places in major marketplaces of the city including Bara Tooti Chowk, Azad Market Chowk, Central market of Lajpat Nagar, Tilak Nagar, DTC Depot in Mongolpuri and Ghitorni metro station between 5 PM to midnight.
On the day of Diwali, besides the above mentioned areas, firetenders were stationed at Lal Kuan Chowk, Lahori Gate, Nangloi, South Extension, Sonia Vihar and Mehrauli, Vasant Kunj and Alipur. Fire services had also deployed motorcycle squads with backpacks to tackle fires in narrow lanes and crowded areas like Ambedkar Nagar, Kapashera, Chandni Chowk, Subzi Mandi, Ghantaghar, Sheela Cinema, Paharganj, Mayur Vihar Phase III, Jaipur Golden Hospital, Azadpur Market Chowk and Shadipur Depot.
Besides motorcycles, Xylo cars with firefighting equipment were also stationed in areas like Hari Nagar, Geeta Colony, etc.
In addition to the 59 permanent fire stations, the fire services had set up temporary stations at 22 locations across the city from where maximum fire calls were received during last year’s Diwali.
The authorities had also increased the number of phone lines to the control room in view of the increased number of fire calls on Diwali.
“We had cancelled the leaves of all the firefighters. All of them were on duty,” said an officer.
Apart from firefighters, at some places, even policemen were pressed into action.
In a fire incident reported in a PG in southeast Delhi’s Amar Colony area yesterday, 23 girls and four aged women were rescued. The fire had started from the basement and then spread to the top floors of the building thereby leaving no escape route for those stuck inside, police said.
In a rescue operation carried out between 11 PM and 12.45 AM, policemen from the Amar Colony police station climbed on the balcony using a ladder and rescued those trapped inside the building.
“The girls were shifted to adjoining buildings. The cause of the fire is suspected to be due to crackers,” said a senior police officer.
An official from the Delhi Fire Services said that this time they felt that since people are more aware about the hazards of fire, they received calls from people about fires caused due to road accidents, animal rescue and electrocution as well.
NSG commandos also conducted a mock drill in Palika Bazar yesterday to check the preparedness of the staff in reacting to a fire. They made a call to the fire control room about a fire around 3 PM yesterday. (PTI)
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