Fire services in Odisha and Surat responded to dozens of incidents including firecrackers and garbage fires during the festive period.
The Odisha Fire and Emergency Services responded to 75 fire-related emergency calls across the state during Diwali celebrations, according to an ANI report. Officials confirmed that a majority of these blazes were triggered by firecrackers.
In Jajpur, 13 emergency incidents were reported, followed by nine calls in Cuttack, eight in Puri, and seven in Bhubaneswar. Other incidents occurred in Balasore, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Jagatsinghpur, Keonjhar, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Ganjam, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Koraput, Kalahandi, and Kandhamal.
In Surat, the Surat Fire & Emergency Services (SFES) handled more than 200 fire and rescue calls over two days, as reported by Urban Acres. Garbage fires accounted for 86 calls, while firefighters also attended 28 house fires, 11 electric short-circuit incidents, and 11 farm fires.
The SFES also responded to four rescue operations, eight incidents involving hutments, four involving shops, and four involving godowns. Two people suffered minor burn injuries in a fire incident in Vesu.
To manage the elevated call volumes, SFES Chief Fire Officer Basant Pareek said employees were moved from normal eight-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts. Pareek stated the longer schedule would remain for 48 hours before staff returned to routine duty hours.
