New Delhi: Amid allegations of lapses against the Delhi Fire Service (DFS), a day after a blaze tore through a building in Vivek Vihar killing nine people, a major concern has emerged: There are only two station officers across 11 fire stations in east Delhi.
Critical Staffing Gaps in East Delhi
The two officers are stretched, covering a vast swathe — from Mayur Vihar to the Noida border, including parts of northeast Delhi and Shahdara — and were at the forefront of Sunday's firefighting and rescue operations. They also have to oversee the maintenance of all equipment and the overall readiness of fire stations.
The situation is similarly shocking across Delhi, with 72 out of 90 posts of station officers currently vacant, a senior DFS official told TOI. The minimum requirement is one officer at each station.
In east Delhi, the two officers work out of Laxmi Nagar and Geeta Colony fire stations. None of the rest — CBD Shahdara, Shahdara, Mayur Vihar Phase-II (Mayur Palace), Tahirpur, Dallupura, Gokulpuri, Shastri Park, Mandawali and Kalyanvas — has a station officer.
The shortage of firefighters becomes more acute during summer when heatwave conditions lead to a spike in calls to the department from across the city, the official said. This significantly increases the workload on the two station officers in east Delhi, who often go without rest for days and sometimes have to continue working even after a 72-hour shift.
Multi-Agency Inspection in Vivek Vihar
On Monday, police were deployed outside the stricken building in Vivek Vihar even as teams from Delhi Forensic Science Laboratory collected evidence. BSES officials were seen examining whether the air conditioner blast that was said to have caused the fire was triggered by a short circuit.
Simultaneously, IGL teams carried out checks after locals said the blaze might have damaged a gas pipeline.
Officials at the spot flagged a lack of basic fire safety measures — such as the absence of fire extinguishers, alarm systems or proper exit routes — in the four-storey building, which has eight flats.
Residents Allege Delays and Inadequate Equipment
Families of the deceased raised several allegations against the fire service. Sonali Jain, who lost five of her kin, claimed that the fire tenders arrived 25 to 30 minutes late. The water pipes used by firefighters were leaky and did not have sufficient water or adequate pressure, she said.
Another resident alleged that his first call was connected to Ghaziabad and he was asked to contact DFS despite it being an emergency. Kamal Goyal, also a resident, said, “My son, Kush, managed to reach Shahdara fire station, but it took the fire tenders 20 more minutes to reach the spot.”
The residents also claimed that the firefighters did not have cutters to prise open the grills covering the windows and the back of the building. Instead, a couple of locals gave them their angle grinders for the purpose, they said.
“Social media posts and money won’t bring my family back. I demand accountability for these shortcomings,” Sonali said. She dismissed reports that digital locks in the building hindered the evacuation process. “Only one flat had digital locks and its residents managed to escape safely. The rest of us had normal locks, which malfunctioned as the fire spread,” she added.
Fire Department Responds
When TOI reached out to the fire department for a response to the allegations, a senior DFS official said that once a PCR call was received, the tenders reached the spot within five minutes. “Fourteen tenders were there, and we rescued 20 people,” the official said, adding that specialised vehicle turntable ladders — appliances featuring a long, retractable telescopic ladder mounted on a rotating platform atop a truck chassis — were used for firefighting.
The official added, “The hoses were intact, but properly attaching them to the fire tenders takes a bit of time. Moreover, the pipes can be ruptured if they come in contact with shards of glass.” The official denied that the water pressure was insufficient and claimed that the tenders were equipped with metal cutters.
Firefighters said that it took them some time to initiate operations because cars parked in the stilt area and outside the building obstructed movement and prevented the fire tenders from being positioned close enough to deploy the ladders.
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