Distress calls keep fire fighters busy
The city’s fire fighters were on their toes till Wednesday morning with the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) receiving the maximum number of calls in the last four years this Diwali.
The city’s fire fighters were on their toes till Wednesday morning with the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) receiving the maximum number of calls in the last four years this Diwali.
According to the DFS, 250 calls — generated from across the Capital till early Wednesday morning — were received and attended to. And except for the death of a 14-year-old teen from northeast Delhi, no major incidents were reported during this festival.
“On the day of Diwali, we received a total of 184 calls. Around 66 calls were received between 12 and 7am,” said a senior DFS official.
Last year, fire tenders had received 206 calls and in 2010, 169 calls had been attended to by the DFS. There are a total of 1,700 fire tenders deputed across 55 fire stations across the Capital. The department had received 207 calls in 2009.
“This Diwali, we got calls from almost all parts of the city but most were minor incidents, except one in which a woman was injured while lighting earthern lamps at her house in Rohini’s Sector five and that of a 14-year-old being charred at Nand Nagari,” the official said.
In both cases, two fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the victims were taken to nearby hospitals with 80% burns for medical aid.
While the woman has survived, the teenager named Diwakar, who was rushed to GTB Hospital after getting engulfed in flames while setting off firecrackers around 6:55pm on Tuesday, died during treatment.
“There was unprecedented deployment this Diwali — 99% of our force having been on duty till Wednesday,” the official added.