Srinagar, April 12: There has been a surge in fire incidents in the summer capital Srinagar due to no fire gaps in congested localities of the city and thus causing loss of life and property.
The officials from the Fire & Emergency Department admitted the non-existence of fire gaps in the congested city areas.
The officials said that most of the times the damages caused by fire mishaps in densely populated areas is due to the non-existence of fire gaps.
On April 6, a residential house suffered damage in a fire mishap at the Tarbal area of Nawakadal, Srinagar in which 11 persons received minor injuries.
According to officials, the fire broke out from the residential house of Mehraj ud Din Mattu, which later engulfed other nearby structures as well.
soon after the incident, the locals and the firemen rushed to the spot and doused the flames to prevent them from spreading to other areas.
An official of the Fire & Emergency Department told Rising Kashmir that the cause of the fire was due to a gas cylinder blast.
Notably, the summer capital Srinagar has witnessed nearly 100 fire incidents in the first three months of the ongoing year.
Deputy Director, F&ES Bashir Ahmad Shah told Rising Kashmir that due to people gathered at the site of an incident often becomes a hurdle during rescue operations. “If people will cooperate with the firemen and provide easy passage to the site it will take very little time to contain the situation,” he said.
He however maintained that most of the fire incidents occurred due to no fire gaps in congested areas. “The areas are already congested for the movement of people. Besides, people are parking their vehicles on the roadside which creates major hurdles for men and machinery to reach the site and douse the fire,” he said.
He also appealed to people not to leave electronic gadgets unattended and follow the advisories.
Notably, a 35-year-old woman along with her 5-year old son was killed while several houses were damaged, in an overnight fire incident that broke out in the Haftchinar area last week.