The Fire and Rescue Services Department is planning to write to the Government to bring in a ban on manufacture and sale of rocket fireworks as they were found to be main reason for fire accidents during Deepavali season.
Divisional Fire and Rescue Services Officer N. Subramanian on Wednesday told The Hindu that compared to the previous years, the number of fire accident calls received on Deepavali day was far lower.
Despite being a dry spell with no showers in the last few days, there were only 19 – that too very minor fire calls – wherein the damages were less than Rs. 2,000.
There had not been any major damage or loss of lives, only minor injuries.
Coimbatore North Fire Station at Kavundampalayam received seven calls, Pollachi seven calls and Coimbatore South Fire Station on Railway Station Road received five calls.
No fire calls
There had not been even a single fire call in Mettuppalayam, Valparai, Ganapathy or Peelamedu.
Mr.Subramanian said that neighbouring Erode division had attended as many as 35 fire calls during the Deepavali season.
In 2009, there were a lot of fire calls, while in 2010 it was only two calls. In 2011 there had been no calls because of the wet spell during Deepavali season.
The number of calls at 19 this year is the result of increased awareness level among the public, according to sources here.
With regard to the 19 fire calls received, Mr.Subramanian said that nine were fire on coconut trees, two separate incidents of fire in huts, one fire of oil waste at a workshop, one case of fire in waste materials, besides three cases of fire at coconut farm, sugarcane farm and banana farm.
In all the cases, rocket fireworks were found to be the cause of fire.
