Once burnt, twice shy: women in south-east Delhi slums better equipped to handle blazes

Since April 2022, more than 500 women in south-east Delhi slums have been trained by the Delhi Fire Service, along with an NGO, in basic firefighting techniques as these settlements are vulnerable to blazes.

On a summer evening in 2005, a slum cluster in south-east Delhi’s Govindpuri caught fire, claiming two lives and injuring several others. One of the residents, Mohini, escaped unhurt but the incident haunts her even today.

“While people were trying to flee the fire, my sister fell on the ground and was hurt in a stampede. My brother suffered burns all over his body and my mother received severe injuries,” she said, adding that the incident made her feel helpless. Now 26, she is better prepared for such emergencies.

Since April 2022, Ms. Mohini and over 500 other women in Govindpuri and nearby low-income settlements such as Kabir Basti, Navjeevan Vihar and Kabadi Basti have been trained in basic firefighting techniques by the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) and Mehar Charitable Trust, an NGO.

Women in low-income clusters are mostly homemakers and deal with cooking gas cylinders. During fires in such areas, cylinder blasts are common. Training women on how to douse fires and prevent cylinder blasts can save their lives and that of others, said officials.

Laxmi, a DFS officer, said the training is not limited to such clusters, but it is essential to train these women first so that they do not become easy casualties.

DFS personnel and the NGO staff organise day-long training camps for women every two months in these areas. The NGO also provides door-to-door training to women who are busy with domestic duties and cannot attend the camps.

“We were taught how to turn a stove on and off safely, put out cylinder fires using sand and wet clothes and dealing with the situation with basic household items,” said Dipika Kumari, a Govindpuri resident.