As city smoulders, fire tenders reach spots hours after blaze
NEWDELHI: As Delhi continued to burn for the third consecutive day, with violence spreading to more areas on Tuesday, the Delhi Fire Services received over 55 fire complaints from north-east Delhi alone.
However, with violence intensifying, firefighters found themselves helpless and hamstrung, unable to reach several spots until hours after the blaze.
A senior fire official Tuesday said while complaints poured in from the public and the police, fire tenders could not reach the affected areas as in many cases, the Delhi Police could not provide them protection. In some pockets, rioters had blocked roads, making it difficult for rescue teams to go in.
“The actual number of fires may be much higher than what was reported. In many neighbourhoods, houses and shops were set on fire. We got reports from the control room about some major fires, but our teams were unable to reach those places,” the fire official, on condition of anonymity, said.
DFS officials said relying on the police and security forces was necessary as on Monday, four fire tenders were damaged by rioters and three of their officials severely injured.
At Gokalpuri’s tyre market, a fire was reported at 9pm Monday. However, despite 30 fire tenders being pressed into action immediately, these tenders could not reach the spot on time.
The remnants of the blaze continued to smoulder till Tuesday afternoon.
Around 11am, a huge crowd gathered at the Gokalpuri flyover to get a better glimpse of the thick smoke billowing from a spot behind the Metro station.
Groups of rioters had set fire to a market of two-wheeler accessories and tyres, located a stone’s throw away from the Dayalpur police station in northeast Delhi.
The market had about 150 shops, most of them owned by Muslims residing in localities such as Gokalpuri, Dayalpur, Yamuna Vihar, Brijpuri and Bhajanpura.
Between 11.30am and noon, mobs armed with lathis and rods could be seen heading from the spot of the fire towards Maujpur, another locality where rioters were running amok committing arson, vandalism, stone pelting and even firing shots.
Later, both the police and fire officials said the fire at the market in Gokalpuri was an act of “arson”.
The damage was high because for hours, rioters had blocked arterial roads leading to the spot and threatened drivers of fire trucks.
“We cannot give a correct estimate of the fire trucks involved in the operation at this point as several of them left the fire station but failed to reach the fire site,” Delhi’s fire chief Atul Garg said at 4pm.
Between 4pm and 7pm, mobs set ablaze several vehicles across northeast Delhi. The localities include Karawal Nagar, Bhajanpura, Gokalpuri, Yamuna Vihar, Durgapuri Chowk and West Jyoti Nagar. Fire tenders could be seen in some of these spots. In others, residents and police joined hands to douse the flames.
In Maujpur, a group of masked men set fire to a shop owned by a Muslim family. However, the flames soon spread to neighbouring residential areas, where a Hindu population lives.
“The locals took an hour to control the blaze because fire tenders could not reach on time,” a resident of Maujpur said.