The city has reported 79 fire incidents caused by firecrackers during the Diwali festival – November 5-10. This happened despite the Bombay High Court restricting firecracker bursting.
On the day of Laxmi Puja, the city witnessed 27 fires. In one such incident, a fire broke out after a rocket entered a balcony on the 13th floor of a building in Jogeshwari West. “The trend of bursting firecrackers from balconies or on the terrace of high-rise buildings has increased in the last few years. It has been observed that the number of fire cases is increasing in the city during Diwali,” said senior fire officials. The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) on average received 14 to put out fires daily.
The city witnessed 65 calls to put out fires in 2021, while it was 37 last year due to firecrackers. The number of fires increases during Diwali, mostly due to crackers and also due to lamps, diyas or electric overload.
To prevent such incidents, the MFB undertook an awareness campaign in slums and chawls. Around 169 lectures were conducted by the fire officials between November 9 and 15. An advisory was also released appealing to the citizens to take precautions while bursting firecrackers to avoid any untoward incident.
