The Delhi Fire Services saw a significant increase in fire-related calls during this Diwali, with over 300 incidents reported throughout the city – marking the highest number in the past 13 years, according to an official statement made on Friday.
“The figure marks the highest number of Diwali-related fire and emergency incidents in the past 13 years,” DFS chief Atul Garg said.
The officials said that an extensive use of firecrackers was behind the rise in the incidents. Most of the calls were received between 5 pm on October 31 and 5 am on November 1, the DFS revealed.
“This year, we received 318 fire-related calls. The number is the highest in the last 13 years. We were also fully prepared to tackle any and every situation with deployment of all the fire units and officials. We cancelled all the leaves and were ready to help everyone across the city,” Garg said.
Data provided by the Delhi Fire Services reveals that they received the following number of fire-related calls over the years: 206 in 2011, 184 in 2012, 177 in 2013, 211 in 2014, 290 in 2015, 243 in 2016, 204 in 2017, 271 in 2018, 245 in 2019, 205 in 2020, 152 in 2021, 201 in 2022, and 208 in 2023.
As per Garg, at least 78 calls regarding the fire incidents came in between 4 pm and 9 pm. He noted that the busiest period for fire-related calls this year was between 6 pm and 11:59 pm, during which the Delhi Fire Services received 176 calls. From midnight to 6 am, they received an additional 144 calls.
“Last year during the same time, we had received 195 fire-related calls,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)