However, a 26-year-old youth died of burn injuries at Swaroop Rani Nehru (SRN) Hospital after sustaining serious burn injuries at the Magh Mela. The fire broke out in his tent in sector 5 of the mela area. Officials of the fire department claimed that they were alerted about the fire on Jan 15 at midnight, and by the time a joint police and firemen team and a fire tender rushed to the site, the tent was engulfed in flames. The blaze was doused within a few minutes, but the youth, who was alone inside, sustained severe burn injuries by then. He was rushed to SRN Hospital and succumbed to his injuries the next morning.The fire department on Wednesday though claimed to have saved more than 148 lives of people in the Magh Mela. The proactive measures also averted financial losses exceeding worth crores of rupees, officials said. Chief fire officer (Magh Mela), Animesh Singh told TOI, “Out of 25 fire incidents, six were serious, causing some tents and temporary structures to burn, but minor incidents were quickly controlled.”Singh mentioned that the department had set a response time of three minutes, but they managed to reach the spot within two minutes. Besides, firemen also carried out two rescue operations of pets, including a cow, inside the mela campus.He said that in order to ensure safety, 20 fire stations and seven fire checkpoints were set up across seven sectors of the Magh Mela area.
