MUMBAI: Chief fire officer Ravindra Ambulgekar said, “Both Malwani and Pratiksha Nagar blazes were triggered by firecrackers. Each of the calls we attended focused on ensuring that the blaze did not spread.“The city fire brigade attended to 333 fire calls triggered by fireworks between Nov 6 and Nov 10. Of these, police recorded 200 fire accidents due to crackers, a sharp increase from 80 in 2024 and 113 in 2025.In the Malad inferno, residents informed TOI that 16-year-old Shahnawaz Niyaz Khan had entered a firecracker shop with his friends to buy crackers when a rocket allegedly fell on it from outside, triggering a series of explosions. Three of his friends managed to run out but the teen was trapped.
Firecracker tragedies
The shopkeeper, unaware that he was still inside, rolled down the shutter and fled the site, said Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh.Another mishap struck a row of labourers’ hutments in Pratiksha Nagar, Sion, Tuesday. Local BJP corporator Shilpa Keluskar said that six huts caught fire. “Multiple explosions took place as LPG cylinders blasted. One fireman was injured,” she said.Negligence took a toll on innocent lives. TV actor Divyanka Tripathi posted a tribute to lift operator Dhanpat Mahto who died in a fatal firecracker blaze in her society, Runwal Elegante in Andheri Lokhandwala, on Nov 6.Saying ‘Dhanpat Uncle’ wasn’t just a guard but part of their everyday lives, she shared a video of him at the gate welcoming her newborn babies. Tripathi said when her boys are older, she will tell them that a kind man had welcomed them.In Vasai-Virar and Mira-Bhayandar, 48 fires were reported Nov 9-10, mostly at garbage dumps. “Most were minor, and our teams doused them quickly. No casualties occurred,” said Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation chief fire officer Prakash Borade.Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) reported 28 fires on Nov 9 and 10, taking the Diwali mishap toll to 90, a disaster management official said.In Ulhasnagar, a major fire broke out at a showroom in Camp 3 on Tuesday, damaging a large showroom.Meanwhile, the deployment of Mumbai fire brigade vehicles to Thane on Nov 8 to assist in firefighting operations at a high-rise society housing deputy CM Eknath Shinde’s relatives led to a political controversy.Responding to criticism by opposition leader Kishori Pednekar, Amey Ghole, Shiv Sena (Shinde) group leader in BMC, defended the move, arguing that saving lives during emergencies should take precedence over municipal boundaries.(Inputs by Richa Pinto, V Narayan, Suhas Birhade, BB Nayak, Pradeep Gupta & Nishikant Karlikar)
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