Surge in fire calls as population grows

With the city witnessing substantial growth, there has been a tremendous rise in the number of calls the fire brigade is receiving in recent years. In the past 15 years, the calls to the fire brigade are increasing rapidly with the year 2014-15 recording the highest number of calls (18,015).

The data available with the Mumbai Fire Brigade shows the fire calls received in the year 2000-01 were 7,975, but this has more than doubled in the past 15 years. There has been a rapid rise in the calls with 10 of these years witnessing more than 10,000 calls.

Apart from dousing of fires in the city, fire calls also include other types of emergency response like house collapse, tree fall, animal rescue and oil spills. During the 15-year period, the fire brigade managed to rescue 10,675 persons alive, whereas 4,438 persons lost their lives in these incidents. Fire officials attributed the rise in fire calls to rapid growth of the city and crumbling constructions. According to them, there have been several old buildings, which have undergone large-scale commercial changes due to rise in population. About 50 per cent fire incidents take place due to short circuits, which happen due to arbitrarily laid electric connections and wires in these buildings.

“To curb fire incidents, we are undertaking several measures to create awareness about fire safety. We have conducted exhibitions on the fire safety. Pamphlets are also being distributed to sensitise people about precautions to be taken to prevent fire. As part of preparing a force of trained fire volunteers, we have also decided to provide training to people about basic fire fighting and usage of fire equipment like fire extinguishers,” said chief fire officer P.S. Rahangdale.

On Monday, a fire expo was held at the BMC headquaters, which was inaugurated by Mumbai mayor Snehal Ambekar and the BMC commissioner Ajoy Mehta. The exhibition had on display several facts pertaining to the fire brigade, like how it was the first fire service to establish an ambulance service and also to motorise fire-fighting appliances.