New Delhi/Siwan(Bihar): New Delhi recorded 208 incidents of fire on Diwali, surpassing the records of the last three years. In 2022, there were 201 fire incidents while in 2021 and 2020 there were 152 and 205 incidents respectively. This came despite the firecracker ban across the National Capital Region.
Meanwhile, in a single fire incident reported in a market in Bihar's Siwan district, about a 100 people were injured, on Sunday.
Fire Director Atul Garg said that this time major fire broke out at four places namely Shastri Nagar, Sultanpur, East of Kailash and Deputy Ganj of Sadar Bazaar. A massive fire broke out in Shastri Nagar at around 1 pm while another fire broke out in Sultanpur at around 8:45 pm. This apart, a fire was reported in East of Kailash at 10:45 pm, which was brought under control by about half a dozen fire tenders at around 1 am.
Among the four major fire incidents, firemen took the longest to douse flames in Deputy Ganj of Sadar Bazaar. The fire broke out at around 10:30 pm here and was finally brought under control after more than three and a half hours. According to a fire official, the fire services control room received 123 calls of fire-related incidents during the peak hours from 6 pm to 12 midnight. After which, 72 calls were received from 12:00 am to 6 am on Monday.
Thus, a total of 195 calls were received during the 12-hour period by the fire services department. Compared to this, last year, there were 172 calls during the same period.
The fire services department had made a host of arrangements to tackle any untoward incident. Fire tenders were ensured at 23 places so that the vehicles could reach the nearby spots in the shortest time. This apart, motorised backpack vehicles were deployed separately at 10 places including Ambedkar Nagar Police Station in South East Delhi, Kapashera near Haryana border and Paharganj Police Station in Central Delhi.
Along with a rise in fire incidents, Delhi also recorded a spike in pollution level as air quality level entered "very poor" category in Shadipur, Ayanagar, Lodhi Road, Jahangirpuri and Lodhi Road.
In Bihar, the fire incident was reported at Sheela Market in Siwan district, police said, adding that, “ The fire initially began at a shop where diesel was stored.”
The fire raged on within minutes and it engulfed the entire market with customers and shopkeepers running helter skelter from the spot.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that a firecracker burst in the shop's vicinity sparked the fire and at least 100 people were injured.
According to police, two dozen people were in critical condition and are being referred to the Sadar hospital and Gorakhpur for further treatment.
Police said two of the firefighters engaged in the dousing of fire were among those injured in the accident.
“The fire incident broke out around 10 pm on Sunday night. We immediately rushed fire engines to douse the flame. A number of people sustained injuries in this mishap. They were admitted to the hospitals in Siwan and Gorakhpur,” said Feroz Alam, SDPO Siwan.
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