Record heat, surging blazes push Delhi’s firefighters to the brink

Authorities say electrical failures are responsible for nearly three-quarters of fires in India’s capital this summer.

Indervir Singh has worked for the Delhi Fire Services for 32 years but he cannot recall responding to as many fires as this summer.

Temperatures in India’s capital, New Delhi, home to about 20 million people, have hit record highs, with the mercury climbing to nearly 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) on several occasions.

Calls reporting fires between April and June more than doubled from a year ago, crossing 9,000, fire services data show. Deaths from fires more than tripled in that period, from just 10 a year ago.

Many of the blazes are in New Delhi’s teeming old quarter, where the narrow lanes are crammed with shops and homes, and webs of electricity cables and other wires hanging from poles.

“I have attended to several back-to-back calls” on recent shifts, said Singh, 54, before he rushed to the scene of yet another blaze in his thick jacket, heavy boots and red helmet.