A boisterous Diwali celebration in city had the staff of Fire Brigade of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) on its toes throughout the night, courtesy fires that were sparked by crakers. Continuous distress calls made them run from one place to another as nearly 30 fire tenders and over 200 firemen rushed overnight to douse the fires. Despite round-the-clock emergency deployments, Nagpur recorded an alarming spike in Diwali fire mishaps this year, tackling 42 blazes in a 24-hour window from 8 am Sunday to 8 am Monday.

 

The Fire Brigade control room logged five daytime calls, followed by a nocturnal surge of 24 blazes between 8 pm and midnight, and 13 till morning. Incidents erupted across diverse residential and commercial sectors including Suresh Bichhayat Kendra and Bajrang Atta Chakki (Narendra Nagar); Dev Nagar (Khamla Road); Orange City Hospital; Babulkheda (near Thaware School); Samata Layout (Ajni); Congress Nagar (near Patel House); Shiv Mandir (Omkar Nagar); Lane No 5 in Jawahar Nagar (Manewada road); and Hudkeshwar road (Dhage’s Bungalow, Annapurna Nagar, and near the police station); Ramdaspeth (opp Panchasheel); Shankar Nagar (Bajaj Nagar Chowk); Rana Pratap Nagar (near Padole Hospital and Telecom Nagar Garden); Subhash Nagar (Ambazari Road); CPWD Colony (Seminary Hills); Aman Asha Layout (Jaitala Road); Mohan Nagar (near Post Office and Madan Wine Shop); and Jaripatka (near Sai Mandir).

 

Along with Kukreja Nagar (near Bapuna Wine Shop); Milind Nagar at Bhawani Chowk (Vaishali Nagar); Jalsa Bar (Kamptee Road); Maitri Villa (Nari Road); Bhaldarpura (Ganjipeth); Agaram Devi (Ganeshpeth); Shanti Nagar (near Ghat); Bajeria (near Poddareshwar Ram Mandir); Ranason Beer Bar roof (Senior Bhonsle Palace area); Small Factory Area (Wardhaman Nagar); Hiwari Nagar (near Power House); Wathoda (Antuji Nagar and Lalit Public School); Dawai Market (Haj House); Bollywood Centre Point (Sakkardara); Medical Chowk (opp Haldiram); Kalamna (Chikhli Chowk); Gadhikhana (Old Shukrawari); A1 Mutton Shop (Chandan Nagar); Tanga Stand (Shahid Chowk); and Santi Road, Chitaroli (near Itwari High School). 'Our entire fleet of 30 fire tenders and over 225 personnel worked round-the-clock across three shifts as vehicles rushed continuously between spots,'” said Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Rajendra Uchake. The primary cause behind almost every blaze was firecrackers, particularly sky rockets landing on roofs and open areas,” he added. No stopping to the menace, five more fires recored on the next day of Diwali : The fire department recorded five more fires on Monday, which were primarily caused by firecrackers. The blazes broke out separately at an electric meter in Narendra Nagar, garbage heaps in Sakkardara and Cotton Market, a DP box in Kalamna, and in Ganjipeth. The fire department was on high alert throughout the festive season to prevent major losses and protect citizens lives.