The number of fires in the Capital in April has seen an alarming rise this year compared to the previous year.
Considered to be one of the most stressful months for fire fighters, the number of fire calls made from April 1 to April 24 has not only gone past the corresponding figure in the previous year, but the cumulative figure shows that there is an increase of nearly 50 per cent.
For the 1,439 fire calls made in April 2015 during this period, the records reveal that 2,552 calls have been made this year so far. This means an increase of 1,113 incidents — or 77.34 per cent. The number, say officials from the Delhi Fire Services (DFS), is alarmingly high even though April remains one of the crucial months.
The day-wise break up of this number also reflects the uptrend and the city’s vulnerability to such incidents.
For instance, not even once last year did the number of calls on a single day cross hundred. This year, there have been 13 days out of 24, where more than a 100 calls were received.
The maximum number of calls reported this month on a single day was 158, reported on April 21.
This is marginally short of the 180-odd calls the DFS receives on the day of Diwali, when fire related accidents increase.
The corresponding figure last April was 97. The figures for entire months in April 2014 and 2013 were also much less than the figure reported till now, said fire officials.
Fire safety experts such as the Delhi Fire Services Chief Dr. G.C. Mishra say there is a sudden increase every April because of the heat but even by those standards, the temperature has soared into the mid-forties very early.
However, no other factors could be offered by him or other fire officials on the sudden rise, but they said that domestic fires, particularly cylinder blasts where high temperature would aid leakage and formation of inflammable mixture, can be controlled if proper maintenance is carried out.
