45 fire-related incidents reported in Ahmedabad on Diwali

At least 45 incidents of fire were reported on two days of Diwali festival in the city, even as the 108 ambulance service in Gujarat received over 3,800 calls during this period across the state.
Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) said bursting of fire crackers was the main reason behind these fire-related incidents reported at several places in and around the city, although no major injury or casualty was reported.
"We received around 45 calls related to fire that took place in shops, houses, godowns and open areas due to fire crackers, mostly rockets. No fatalities or serious injuries were reported in any of the incidents," AFES control room official Yusuf Khan said.

Some of the major incidents were fire at a three-storey footware shop in Sarangpur area and a major fire at a scrap godown in Sarkhej area on the outskirts of the city, he added.
The 108 ambulance service received more than 3,800 calls from across Gujarat in these two days. All the calls were related to either fire accidents or about respiratory complications caused due to the smoke of fire crackers, said officials of GVK-EMRI, which runs the service.
"This year, so far we attended more than 3,800 calls during the last two days through our network of 550 ambulances across Gujarat. Apart from burns or other fire-related accidents, many people sought our help after they develop problems in breathing due to rise in pollution," Chief Operating Officer of GVK-EMRI,Gujarat, Jaswant Prajapati said.

The patients were referred to the nearby hospitals in time, he added.