13 fire related incidents reported on Diwali

According to fire department officials, no injury was reported in any of the fire incidents. Most of these incidents took place between 6pm and 9pm, fire department officials said.

About 13 fire related incidents were reported in the city on Thursday, the Diwali night.

Fire broke out at a furniture showroom on Sheetla Mata Road near Sector 5 on Diwali night. (HT Photo)

The ill-equipped and understaffed fire department was working round the clock on Diwali as people burst crackers beyond the permitted three hours — 6:30pm to 9:30 pm — as decreed by the Punjab and Haryana high court.

The Supreme Court had also banned sale of fire crackers in Delhi-NCR till November 1 but the people got crackers from outside and some had stocks from last year.

According to fire department officials, no injury was reported in any of the fire incidents. Most of these incidents took place between 6pm and 9pm, fire department officials said.

There were two major fire incidents in the city. Fire was reported at a cotton warehouse in Sanjay Gram and a furniture warehouse in Sector 5 on Thursday evening.

“Two warehouses caught fire on Diwali night and we haven’t ruled out the possibility of the fire being caused due to bursting of firecrackers. Investigations are ongoing and we are assessing the damages to find any evidence to determine the source of the fire,” IS Kashyap, fire safety officer, said.

According to fire department officials, five fire tenders each from Bhim Nagar and Sector 29 fire headquarters were pressed into service to douse the flames at both warehouses. It took firefighters nearly 40 minutes to bring the fire under control in both places.

Fire officials said the objects at the warehouses were ‘highly flammable’, there was little else they could do aside from containing the fire.

The other incidents included a Tata Nano and Maruti Suzuki Swift being gutted in Sector 54, a storage room behind a temple near HUDA City Centre metro station catching fire and an electrical unit catching fire opposite an apartment in DLF Phase-1.

Last year, eight incidents of fire were reported. No injuries took place in any of the incidents.