NEW DELHI: The national capital saw a marginal rise in fire-related calls on Diwali night with firecrackers constituting more than 10% of the calls. According to a top Delhi Fire Service (DFS) official, the department received 208 calls on Diwali, of which 22 were related to firecrackers.
DFS chief Atul Garg said that this year during the peak hours of the festival, there was a rise in the total number of calls. “We received a total number of 123 calls from 6 pm till midnight while 72 were received between 12.00 am to 6 am,” Garg said.
The maximum number of calls was received between 8 pm to 10 pm on November 12. Among these, 11 fire calls were related to firecrackers. According to the data shared by the DFS, the department received 166 fire calls, 12 for animal rescue, 7 for bird rescue, 5 for road accidents in which one fatality was recorded, 8 for special jobs, and three as standby calls.
It is a well-known fact that whenever firecrackers are used, there is always a risk of burn injury or could result in an untoward incident. However, this time, fortunately, no loss of life was reported.
There were major fire incidents at Sadar Bazar, East of Kailash, Shastri Nagar, Sultanpur, and Tilak Nagar on Sunday but no one was injured, the DFS official said. He said that 22 fire tenders took two hours to control the blaze at a godown at Sadar Bazar in Central Delhi.