On Wednesday early morning, gasoline stored in the basement of Supreme Development Bank at Tinkune in the Capital caught fire. 

The fire was brought under control before it could lead to a disaster. But it was the fifth incident of stored gasoline catching fire in Kathmandu since mid-July.

On the same morning, a furniture store belonging to Rupesh Rai in Tokha-12 was engulfed by an inferno due to an electric short circuit. With this, 74 incidents of fire in the metropolis have been attributed to electric short circuit since mid-July.

According to the Juddha Fire Brigade Office, there were 120 incidents of fire in Kathmandu since the beginning of current fiscal year. Of them, 100 occurred between mid-November 2015 and February 2016, with eight in the last six days. Two people have been killed. Last fiscal year, fire had broken out in 395 places in the Capital. 

Kathmandu Metropolitan City, which is responsible for controlling fire hazard and fighting fire, has attributed the incidents to public’s carelessness during and after load shedding hours and tendency to store fuel in their houses. 

KMC Chief and Executive Officer Rudra Singh Tamang said people tend to forget to turn off electronic appliances during power cuts. When power comes back, chances of electric short circuit are high, as our wiring and switchboards are of substandard quality, he said.

Inspector Kishor Kumar Bhattarai, chief of the Juddha Fire Brigade Office, said hoarding fuel, especially petrol, at home is another reason for frequent incidents of fire. “Storing such highly inflammable product at home is full of risk,” he said.

Kathmandu Metropolitan City has six fire engines at the New Road-based Juddha Fire Brigade Office. The station is manned by 33 firefighters and 11 personnel from the Armed Police Force work as auxiliary firefighters. “The fire brigade is operated from the Rs100 we collect from each household per year. We are short of fund,” CEO Tamang said. “It is not possible for fire engines in New Road to reach all incident sites always on time.”

On top of that, according to Inspector Bhattarai, the Juddha Fire Brigade Office has to send fire engines when there are incidents of fire in Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Kavrepalanchok and even Sindhupalchok districts. 

“We still fight 40 percent of fires in Lalitpur and 60 percent in Bhaktapur,” he said. 

Although Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City has two fire engines in working condition, it only has manpower to operate one at a time while a fire engine in Bhaktapur is an improvised one.

Inspector Bhattarai also said that the Home Ministry has not provided big and 

one small fire trucks and 29 personnel to his office as promised while the Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited cannot provide regular water.