Nagpur: The last fiscal (2017-18) was really busy for the NMC’s fire and emergency services department.
Firefighters in the city turned up 1,360 times in 2017-18, pointing to an upward trend of incidents of fire — up 18% from the previous year. The figure was for fire accidents only and not for emergency calls, which were around 701. A more specific break down shows that 183 incidents were of major fires, 226 medium and 951 small fires. About 23 people — including 22 men — were rescued from drowning.
NMC’s chief fire officer Rajendra Uchake said the population is growing and that’s one of the main reasons that the department has seen an increase in incidents of fire. “With the increase in population, we’re going to see an rise in our call volume,” Uchake told TOI.
The sharp rise in fire-related cases has been attributed to a spurt in serious accidents, which went up by 100% in the last five years. As many as 714 fire incidents were recorded in 2013-14 with loss of property to the tune of over Rs 20.40 crore, while the fire department managed to save property worth approximately Rs 100 crore.
The officer said that big industries, godowns and showrooms often catch fire easily due to faulty electrical wiring. “Most of those places have uninterrupted power devices installed, which run through the night. There is a good chance that these devices may malfunction leading to short circuit,” he said.
“The simplest way to prevent short circuit fires is timely audits of electric wiring. Nagpur has a lot of old buildings wherein electric wiring has undergone wear and tear,” said Uchake. The fire brigade has also taken its awareness drive to schools, hospitals, private institutions and conducted mock drills on fire safety for civilians, he said.
The fire department has completed inspections of 1,489 buildings, both residential and commercial, and found fire safety violations in 588 of them. The department has not only declared the buildings unsafe but also asked MSEDCL and NMC’s water works department to disconnect power and water supplies to these buildings, said Uchake.
Meanwhile, the municipal corporation’s fire and emergency services department will observe Fire Service Week from April 14-20. Mayor Nanda Jichkar will inaugurate the week in NMC headquarters, Civil Lines, on April 14 at 9am.
