On Wednesday, a fire at a hotel in Delhi killed 21 people, including 18 foreign visitors. The very next day, a fire broke out in the ICU of a hospital in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. By afternoon, five people had died.
These tragedies make us sad. But sadly, they do not surprise us anymore. We have seen too many deadly fires over the years. Fires and fire-related deaths have become a regular part of life in India.
Ten years ago, India accounted for one out of every five fire-related deaths in the world. There is little reason to believe things have improved much. Even before the Delhi hotel fire, 45 people had already died in fires in the capital this year. Fifteen died in March and 13 in May. If fires are claiming so many lives in Delhi, the situation in other places may be even worse.
This is a serious problem. In 2023, the World Health Organization said that more than one million Indians suffer moderate or severe burns every year. This is not because India is naturally more likely to have fires. The real reason is that people often ignore safety rules.
The terrible Dabwali fire of 1995 should have taught us an important lesson. It happened during a school prize-giving function. The hall was made of cloth and packed with far too many people. One of its two exits had been closed for VIP guests. When a fire broke out, 446 people died.
That disaster should have changed safety standards across the country. But many people still ignore basic rules. The Delhi guesthouse that caught fire on Wednesday had only one exit. In the Anaj Mandi fire of 2019, 45 workers died because one staircase was blocked with goods that could easily catch fire. In the same year, 22 students died in Surat’s Takshashila Arcade. Their coaching centre had plastic walls and ceilings and no proper escape route.
Again and again, fires become deadly because of carelessness and greed.
How can a guesthouse that has permission for only six rooms end up running 25? The answer is simple. Many officials who are supposed to check safety rules do not do their jobs properly. If this continues, fires in factories, hotels, hospitals and markets will keep happening.
And when they do happen, there may not be enough help available. India has far too few fire stations and firefighters. Because of this, many fires cannot be controlled quickly enough.
Sadly, we know that more deadly fires will happen in the future. We will feel sorrow again. But we will not be surprised.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
