India, June 6 -- Fires in Delhi have become more than four times as deadly as they were a decade ago, according to Delhi Fire Service (DFS) data reviewed by HT. Overall fatalities have risen sharply, particularly over the past four years, with annual deaths increasing from 346 in 2020-21 to a record 1,452 in 2024-25.

But the most striking takeaway from the data is that deaths as a proportion of fire calls attended by DFS have surged from around 1% a decade ago to nearly 4% in recent years.

Between 2014-15 and 2016-17, fatalities amounted to roughly one death for every 100 fire-related calls. Between 2023-24 and 2025-26 (data available till March 21, 2026), that figure rose to around four deaths for every 100 calls.

In other words, DFS ...