179 fire calls received by AFES in past 33 days

In Ahmedabad, most people don't care about fire safety and numbers speak for themselves. From January to February 2, 179 fire emergency calls were received by the Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Service (AFES) department, that is around five to six calls per day.

Of the total number of calls, there was seven major incidents in Ahmedabad, where more than eight firefighting vehicles sent to control the situation. Fortunately, no casualty was reported in any of the incidents, but one incident saw two women had a minor suffer burn injuires.

As per the fire officer, usually in a month, the department's control room receives 90about to 110 fire-related calls, but this month, the calls have doubled. Apart from that, there were seven incidents where the situation went worse and more than eight fire-vehicles and more than 50 firemen were sent to control the situation.

Rajesh Bhatt, Additional Chief Fire officer, said, "On an average, the department receives around three to four calls on a daily basis, but in the month of January a total of 179 fire-related calls were received, which double the usual number.

"Apart from that, if we talk about rescue calls, it was 216 in January." said Bhatt

As per the fire officer, the incident is taking place due to carelessness, lack of awareness, lack of information, ignorance regarding fire safety and overconfidence, which led to the fire incidents."

As per Bhatt, "If we look at the seven major fire incidents in the month, all happened due to the short circuit in the wires of the building, which indicated the fire and it spread to other parts of the building.

If the wire was maintained and properly checked, without ignoring the fact, the incident won't have happened. But it was carelessness of the owner of the building."

SOME OF THE MAJOR FIRE INCIDENTS

1) On February 2, at 6.45pm a major fire broke in a Chemical factory named RJD Industrial estate near Cozy hotel in Narol area. A total of 18 fire vehicles were rushed to the spot to control the situation.

2) On February 2, at 1.38pm a fire broke out in Ushant Color Ltd factories godown located at the Vatva GIDC Phase-1. Around 10 firefighting vehicles were rushed to the spot

3) On January 19, a fire broke out in a house located in Khadia area, after a leakage in a gas cylinder. In the incident, two women were rescued by the fire team with minor burn injuries.