Firemen get 204 calls; big blaze in cloth godown

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 20

Even though there were fewer fire incidents in the Capital this year, Delhi Fire Service (DFS) personnel were on their toes as over 200 fire-related incidents were reported which include a big blaze in a godown in east Delhi last night, a DFS spokesperson said today.

Out of 204 calls made to the city's fire department, 51 were related to use of crackers. "A blaze was reported from the Subhash Mohalla area at a cloth godown in east Delhi around 10.10 pm. Twenty-six fire tenders were sent to the spot. However, no injury has been reported in this case," the spokesperson said.

"It was a three-storey building. The case is being investigated by the police," he said.

The 204 fire calls were made between midnight of October 18 and Diwali midnight. "Last year 243 calls were received on Diwali," the DFS official added.

He said fire-related calls have been received post-Diwali midnight as well.

"From Diwali midnight onwards, 75 calls have been received today," he said.

Besides the 59 permanent fire stations in the national Capital, the fire services department had also set up temporary stations at 28 locations across the city, from where the maximum number of calls were received on Diwali last year.

The department had also increased the number of phone lines to the control room.

3,775 kgs of firecrackers seized, 88 held

After the Supreme Court banned the sale of crackers, the local police seized 3775.72 kgs of firecrackers from different parts of the Capital, arrested 88 persons and registered 88 FIRs.

New Delhi district is the only area in the national Capital where not a single incident of the sale of firecrackers was reported, police said