It was a busy Diwali night for Delhi’s fire fighters who received and attended 250 calls from across the capital till early Wednesday morning. There was no major incident, an official said.
The fire brigade received calls from almost all parts of the city but no major fire was reported, a Delhi Fire Service (DFS) official said.
“We received a total of 184 calls on Diwali day (Tuesday) and we received 66 calls from Tuesday night 12 a.m. to 7 a.m. Wednesday morning,” a fire brigade official said.
The number of calls this year was more than last year’s 206. In 2010, fire brigade received 169 calls and in 2009, the number was 207.
“We got calls from almost all parts of the city, but almost all of them were minor incidents, except one where a woman was injured while she was lighting up diyas at her home in Sector 5, Rohini, north Delhi. She was taken to a nearby hospital with 80 percent burns,” a fire brigade official said.
Two fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the fire in Rohini, the official said.
“Ninety-nine per cent of our personnel were on duty on Diwali day,” said the official.
Delhi has 55 fire stations and a workforce of over 1,700 fire fighters.
Hyderabad
Dozens of people, mostly children, were injured in accidents during Diwali celebrations in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday night.
As many as 25 people, including 12 children, were brought to government-run Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital in Hyderabad. The children, all aged below 10 years, were admitted with grievous eye injuries sustained while bursting crackers.
Concerned parents said some of the children had tried to find out why a cracker had not exploded after being set alight, when it suddenly exploded.
State minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao also sustained minor burn injuries on his hand while bursting crackers at his friend’s house in Visakhapatnam. He had visited a hospital in the coastal city Tuesday to call on seven children who were injured in a blast in a firecrackers unit in Anakapalli town Nov 11.