Keeping in mind the need to burst crackers in a safe manner, Fire and Rescue Services department conducted awareness programmes before Deepavali with the slogan ‘safety first’ in southern districts. Thanks to the cooperation from the public, the Deepavali has passed off peacefully.
Speaking to The Hindu , Deputy Director P. Saravanakumar said on Thursday that by roping in students of schools and colleges, the dos and don’ts were disseminated to them during the morning prayers.
Pamphlets were distributed through service organisations. Shopkeepers selling crackers were told about the need to follow safety norms and customers were explained the right decibel levels.The campaign did bring results as many residential colonies avoided bursting crackers in open spaces. Fireworks such as rockets and those with high decibel level were burst on playgrounds instead of cramped spaces or from terraces, he added.
The officials had categorised the fire calls into small, medium and serious.
While in Madurai, there were 18 calls, Tirunelveli received 17, Thoothukudi 1, Kanniyakumari 6, Ramanathapuram 4 and Theni 2 on Deepavali day. None were serious in nature and most of them were caused by either crackers or rockets. Fire tenders rushed and doused the fire.
Calls high
The awareness level was so high that people also gave way to emergency service (108) vehicles on Deepavali. The ‘108’ call centre received more calls from noon, said B. Prabhudoss, Head (Marketing and Hospital Relations), GVK EMRI. Confirming that there were no untoward incidents, he however, said the calls included those from victims of road accidents, assaults, asthmatic attacks and others.
Police officers in Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram districts said more than high decibel crackers, public burst smoke-emitting crackers, which should have been avoided.
