NEW DELHI: As many as 59 people lost their lives in fire incidents in 2023 in the national capital while 689 people suffered burn injuries categorized in various levels ranging from minor to severe levels, a fire department official said on Monday.
Delhi Fire Service (DFS)chief Atul Garg said that the fire department, during the past one year, received 31,339 calls out of which 15,610 calls were related to fire incidents. DFS is the first responder in almost every type of emergency and in addition to this, the services of the department are also utilised to sprinkle water to curb the air pollution in the city.
“The fire department gets calls during any emergency like accidents and drowning for rescue purposes. According to our data, 1,266 people lost their lives in total of all the incidents in which the call was received by fire department,” the fire services chief told this newspaper.
According to the data, 12 people died in fire incidents in January, two in February, 14 in March, three in April, May and June, four in July, one in August, three in September and October, eight in November and three in December.
The department also plays the role of a ‘good samaritan’, saving lives of 3,129 people in the previous year, of which 689 were saved or rescued during fire-related incidents. Apart from saving lives, the Delhi fire services also rescued 3,533 animals and 3,868 birds during 2023. Garg said dealing with animals or birds is even tougher as there is no verbal communication which makes the rescue operation even more challenging.
It is pertinent to mention here that Delhi received the highest budget for fire services `650 crore in 2023. This was the highest budget any state has ever received in the country.“We have and are still utilizing this amount in buying modern tech and equipment for firefighting. Currently, there is no shortage of staff in our services. There are sanctioned posts. We are in the process of filling up 500 posts. At present, we have 2,800 firefighters,” Garg said.