Delhi Records Over 700 Fire-Related Incidents On Diwali, Highest In 13 Years

Amid the Diwali celebration in the national capital, Delhi fire services received a record 400 calls of fire incidents on Friday, 80 more than the day before, making it the highest number of calls received within 24 hours.

According to Delhi Fire Services, they received 320 calls on October 31 and 400 calls on November 1.

Speaking to ANI, Delhi Fire Services Director Atul Garg said, "Some people celebrated Diwali yesterday as well. The record has been broken on both days. On 31st October, we received around 320 fire calls, and on 1st November, we received around 400 calls. So this is a very big number."

He further highlighted that the Delhi Fire Services have never received so many calls within 24 hours, noting that around 100 calls of fire incidents were reported in garbage areas.

"Delhi Fire Service has never attended so many calls within 24 hours...Around 100 calls of a fire in the garbage were received...According to today's data, there has been no death anywhere," the Delhi Fire Services Director added.

Earlier on Friday, Garg said, "This time the calls have been more as compared to previous years, but I would say that only one call has been made due to firecrackers; yesterday fires were caused due to firecrackers but more were caused due to other reasons like candles, diyas, short circuit in lighting, etc. Due to these more fires that were caused, in previous years around 130 calls used to be received due to firecrackers, but this time the calls have reduced due to firecrackers. I want to tell people that they should understand that they should not burn firecrackers as it harms the environment and that harms us in the future."

Apart from this, in a separate incident, a fire broke out in a tent warehouse on the ground, first, second, and third floors (including all floors) in the Mangolpuri area early this morning in an area of 75 square yards. A woman and two children living on the second floor got burned, and were taken to the hospital. Six fire engines extinguished the fire.

Another fire incident was also reported in a cardboard factory in the Rajdhani Park area near Nangloi in Delhi; a banquet hall pandal caught fire in Kanti Nagar near Shahdara in Delhi.

A fire broke out on a DTC bus in the Najafgarh area after a passenger was carrying potash, a key ingredient in firecracker production, causing injuries to two people.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)