New Delhi, The Delhi Fire Service received 257 emergency calls on Diwali this year, registering a decline of around 4.5 per cent compared to the previous year, according to its annual Diwali statistics report.
The remaining calls involved animal and bird rescues, house collapse, human rescue, road accident, special jobs and standby deployment. There was also one house collapse call and one road accident call. The department received nine calls categorised as special jobs and three standby-related calls. No mock drill calls were recorded. The report also listed injuries to five Delhi Fire Service personnel, including burn injuries, a fractured hand, cuts caused by glass, a leg injury and a knee injury.
The data showed that the fire department received 214 fire-related calls, including 24 cracker-related fire calls, on November 8. The total number of calls this Diwali was 12 fewer than the 269 calls recorded in 2025. Compared to 2024, when the department received 318 calls, the number declined by 61, registering a drop of around 19.2 per cent. The year-wise data showed that the number of Diwali-related emergency calls has fluctuated considerably over the past 15 years. The department recorded 257 calls in 2026, against 269 in 2025, 318 in 2024, 208 in 2023, 201 in 2022 and 152 in 2021. In 2020, the department received 205 calls, while the corresponding figures were 245 in 2019, 271 in 2018, 204 in 2017, 243 in 2016, 290 in 2015, 211 in 2014, 177 in 2013 and 184 in 2012. The highest number of calls in this 15-year period was recorded in 2024, when the fire department received 318 calls. The 2026 figure was around 19.2 per cent lower than that peak. The hourly breakup of the 2026 data showed that the maximum number of emergency calls came between 8 pm and 10 pm, when 85 calls were received. This accounted for around 33.1 per cent of the day’s total calls. The department received 61 calls between 10 pm and midnight, accounting for another 23.7 per cent of the total. Together, the two-hour periods between 8 pm and midnight accounted for 146 calls, or approximately 56.8 per cent of all emergency calls received on Diwali. Between 6 pm and 8 pm, the department received 32 calls, while 13 calls were recorded between 4 pm and 6 pm. The 2 pm to 4 pm period registered 14 calls. During the morning, 36 calls were received between 7 am and 2 pm, while 16 calls came in between midnight and 7 am. Of the 214 fire-related calls, 84 were received between 8 pm and 10 pm, followed by 60 between 10 pm and midnight. This means nearly 67.3 per cent of the total fire-related calls came during these four hours, according to the data. The department recorded 24 cracker-related fire calls during the day. Of these, 10 were received between 10 pm and midnight, eight between 8 pm and 10 pm, three between midnight and 7 am, two between 7 am and 2 pm and one between 4 pm and 6 pm. No cracker-related fire calls were recorded between 2 pm and 4 pm or between 6 pm and 8 pm. The category-wise breakup showed that fire calls constituted 83.3 per cent of the total 257 calls. These included 40 rubbish-fire calls and 24 cracker-related calls, as mentioned in the report’s call summary. The department also attended 17 animal rescue calls, accounting for around 6.6 per cent of the total, while seven bird rescue calls constituted 2.7 per cent. Five human rescue calls were recorded, making up around 1.9 per cent of the total. Among the major incidents, a medium-category fire was reported at around 5.25 pm at two adjacent factories on the Shamshan Ghat Wali Road in Nangli Sakrawati. The department also recorded several major fire incidents categorised as Make-4. These included a factory fire in Narela Industrial Area at around 8.50 pm, a fire at an NDMC godown beneath Safdarjung Flyover near Safdarjung Airport at around 9.32 pm and a fire at a banquet hall in Pooth Kalan shortly after midnight, read the document shared by the DFS.
Other Make-04 incidents included a house fire at Saraswati Apartment in IP Extension’s Madhu Vihar at around 1 am, a factory fire at New Krishna School in Prakash Vihar, Karawal Nagar, at around 2.11 am and a shop fire at Chota Bazar in Shahdara’s Main Market at around 3 am. The report’s comparative analysis of peak-hour calls, covering the period from 6 pm to 6 am, showed that the department received 281 calls during the 12-hour Diwali night period this year. This included 178 calls between 6 pm and midnight on November 8 and 103 calls between midnight and 6 am on November 9. The corresponding figure for 2025 was 283 calls, indicating a marginal decline of around 0.7 per cent this year. In 2024, the department received 320 calls during the same 12-hour period, which was 12.2 per cent higher than this year’s figure. However, the 2026 peak-hour figure was higher than those recorded in several earlier years. The department received 195 calls in 2023 and 172 in 2022 during the corresponding period. The figure stood at 115 in 2021, 183 in 2020 and 214 in 2019. Compared to 2021, the 2026 peak-hour calls increased by around 144.3 per cent, while the figure was approximately 31.3 per cent higher than the 2019 count. The report showed that while the overall number of Diwali emergency calls declined compared to the previous two years, the concentration of calls during the evening and late-night hours remained significant, with more than half of the day’s calls being received between 8 pm and midnight.
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