400 fires, two deaths in cracker mishaps

Firecrackers, short circuits cause them

A total of 437 cases of fire incidents were reported from across the city on Wednesday and Thursday, fire department officials said.

Most of the calls came during peak hours on Diwali night between 6 pm and 9 pm on Wednesday. No causality due to fire has been reported, police said.

A big number of cases was expected due to firecrackers, and electric short circuits was also considered to be behind many fire incidents.

"We are examining how many calls were due to firecrackers and how many due to different reasons," said a fire department official.

Most of the incidents were minor but a few major ones were also reported. In south-east Delhi’s Okhla Industrial Area, a fire was reported at a tyre godown on Thursday morning, which soon spread to the entire factory and 10 fire tenders had to be pressed in service to douse the blaze that damaged goods worth lakhs of rupees, said fire officials.

During Diwali, in outer Delhi’s Mangolpuri, a rocket fired by the children of a house exploded in their neighbour’s house and started a fire. Two fire tenders were sent to the spot fearing the fire might spread to other houses; however, it was controlled in less than 30 minutes, fire officials said.

In north-east Delhi’s Mukundpur scrap market, a big fire damaged many shops causing losses worth lakhs of rupees for traders on Wednesday evening. According to fire department officials, 290 calls regarding fire incidents from all over the city were received on Wednesday while 147 calls came on Thursday.

Last year, during the same period, 220 calls were attended to by fire brigade officials while in 2013 the number was only 75.

The fire brigade control room sent some 150 vehicles to incident sites while many vehicles were also moved to further locations, said officials.

Some 1,800 fire department personnel were deployed on Wednesday, and many fire tenders were placed in at least 20 key locations that included congested areas and marketplaces to avert any eventuality, said an official.