The Delhi Fire Services (DFS) on Monday revealed that fire has taken 55 lives and injured more than 300 people in the national capital so far this year.

According to the data by DFS, 16 people were killed in fire in January, another 16 in February, 12 in March, four in April, and seven till May 26.  Fire incidents led to 51 injuries in January, 42 in February, 62 in March, 78 in April, and 71 till May 26.  From January 1 to May 26, the DFS received 8,912 fire-related calls. Delhi has reported 66 hospital fire incidents over the past two years, with 30 in 2022 and 36 in 2021.

“The number of fire calls increased to 32.26 per cent this year. According to the data, the fire department received 8,201 calls up to May 20. In the same period last year, the department received 5,970 calls. This year the number has gone up by more than 32 per cent with 8,912 fire related calls during the same period,” an official of the Delhi Fire Services said. “Last year 36 people had lost their lives, this year total 55 people have so far lost their lives,” the official added.

On Sunday, six newborn died after a massive fire broke out at a private children’s hospital in east Delhi’s Vivek Vihar.  The blaze broke out at the Baby Care New Born Hospital at around 11.30 pm on Saturday and soon spread to two other adjacent buildings.

 On February 15, 11 people died in an explosion and subsequent blaze in a paint factory at Dayalpur market in outer Delhi’s Alipur.

Four people were injured in the incident. The charred bodies of the 11 victims, one of them a woman, were recovered from the factory, which doubled as a chemical godown.

 The fire, which was preceded by a blast, had spread to nearby buildings, including a drug rehabilitation centre and eight shops.

 In another incident in February, an 83-year-old woman died and her granddaughter sustained injuries after they jumped off the fourth floor of a residential building in southwest Delhi’s Dwarka when a fire broke out in their apartment.

Many hospitals in Delhi have inadequate arrangements, including the need for wider staircases.

When hospitals apply for a non-objection certificate from the fire department, they are instructed to build staircases with a larger width to facilitate the easy evacuation of patients on stretchers during a rescue.