More than 16,500 fire-related incidents claimed 82 lives in 2022: Delhi Fire Service

The national capital witnessed over 16,500 fire-related incidents that claimed 82 lives and left more than 700 people injured last year, the Delhi Fire Service said on Sunday.

According to data accessed by PTI, the city’s fire service received 16,518 fire-related calls in 2022 of which 722 were reported non-fatal while 82 were fatal.

Atul Garg, director of the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) said in the year 2022, the fire department received more than 16,500 fire-related calls in which 82 people died and 722 were injured. Most of these fire incidents took place in factories, commercial buildings and slum clusters, he said.

It was observed that many of these factories and commercial spaces where fires were reported did not have a ”No Objection Certificate” from the fire department, or their fire-safety systems were non-functional, Garg said.

Out of the total calls, a maximum of these fire-related calls were received between April and June during the summer season while fewer such incidents were reported in winter, he said.

According to the data, 17,231 fire-related incidents took place between 2019 and 2020 which claimed 100 lives while 843 were injured.

While 15,158 fire-related calls were received between 2020 and 2021, 14,268 calls were received in 2021 and 2022 of which 55 calls were reported to be fatal while 392 were non-fatal. In 2022, the highest number of fire-related incidents took place in April (3,139) followed by 2,234 in May and 2192 in June, it stated. Among the major fire incidents that claimed the maximum number of lives was reported in May last year.

In March, seven people were killed after a fire broke out in shanties in northeast Delhi’s Gokulpuri area in the early hours of the morning. Thirty shanties were gutted in the fire out of the total 60 shanties that were affected.

On May 14 last year, 27 people were killed and 12 were injured as a massive blaze ripped through a four-storey building in outer Delhi’s Mundka. The fire had started from the first floor of the building that housed the office of CCTV cameras and router manufacturing and assembling company.

More than 30 fire tenders were pressed in to douse the fire. Police had to resort to DNA profiling to identify the charred bodies.

In October 2022, the charred body of a 19-year-old man was recovered from the second floor of a shop after a major fire broke out in east Delhi’s Gandhi Market, whereas, in December, 20 cars parked at a multi-storey parking lot in west Delhi’s Subhash Nagar were gutted in the fire.