Out of 342 fire incidents this year, 80 occurred in city

Srinagar, April 20: The summer capital Srinagar is witnessing a surge in fire incidents, resulting in damage to property worth millions.

As per the officials of the Fire & Emergency Services Department, in the first two months of this year, the Union Territory Jammu and Kashmir had reported 342 fire incidents and the Srinagar district tops the list with 80 fire incidents in the same period.

The Srinagar residents expressed concern over the continuous rise of fire incidents and said this is a matter of concern as these incidents are rising every year.

Mohammad Nawaz, from the old city, told Rising Kashmir, “It is alarming to see 80 fire incidents in two months in Srinagar. In every fire incident, the victims are losing property worth crores of rupees."

Nawaz appealed to the authorities to look into the matter of rising cases of fire incidents in the city.

"People get very anxious when a minor fire incident is taking place and the Fire and Emergency Services Department must organize the awareness program in this regard so that such incidents can be averted," he said.

In 2020 Jammu and Kashmir had witnessed a 28% rise in fire incidents with 2373 incidents reported, while in 2019, at least 1841 incidents occurred in Kashmir.

Another senior citizen of the city said that there is no doubt that fire incidents are taking place due to negligence of people due to their poor use of electronic gadgets.

He said in recent fire incidents in the city scores of houses were damaged as the fire was first reported in a single house and later on spread to the nearby houses. "Whenever the fire erupts in the congested areas, it damages several houses," he said.

Officials said that two persons were killed and 14 others, including two firemen, have been injured in fire incidents in recent fire incidents in the city.

He said that a 35-year-old lady along with her 5-year-old son died in the Haftachinar fire incident last Sunday, and in another separate fire incident on Tuesday, 11 persons were injured in Nawakadal.

The officer further said that on 17 January, two firemen among three were injured in a fire mishap at Watal Kadal locality.

Meanwhile, Deputy Director Fire and Emergency Service, Bashir Ahmad Shah while talking to Rising Kashmir said there is no particular reason for these fire incidents, however, he said due to the negligence of people the maximum fire incidents are being reported.

To a query, he said, the people during these fire incidents are creating problems for the firemen. "If they will cooperate with the firemen during these incidents, it will ease the work of firemen and will also help to control the fire at the earliest," he said.

“Due to congested areas, the fire damages several structures. The fire after it engulfs the house spreads to nearby houses as there is no fire gap available in these areas," the officer said.

Meanwhile, Summer capital Srinagar mayor Junaid Mattoo said there is a need to formulate a concrete policy about congested areas falling under the Srinagar district that are vulnerable to losses during fire mishaps. “To avert human and property losses, there is a need to draft a tangible policy about slum areas falling under Srinagar district," he said.