Srinagar Fire and Emergency Safety Guide

On the night of 24 October 2026, a fire at a blanket and furnishing unit in Karan Nagar, opposite Medicare Hospital, took about six hours and 12 fire stations to bring under control. Cotton, polythene and tarpaulin stock fed it, several buildings were damaged, patients were moved out of the hospital as a precaution and no one was hurt. The cause is not known, and we cover it in a case study.

Srinagar district logged 400 fire calls between January and October 2022, up from 289 in 2020 and 357 in 2021. Most old city buildings are wooden, the lanes are so narrow that only two or three vehicles can stand, and parked vehicles and building material slow the tenders.

Gas heaters, fire pots, room heaters, kerosene bukharis and wiring that cannot carry the load were named as the usual causes of fires in the city. Short circuits were also blamed for fires at two well known shrines in past winters.

Early on 11 November 2023, a fire near ghat number nine on Dal Lake killed three tourists from Bangladesh and razed five houseboats and as many attached huts. The cause was not confirmed, with a faulty electrical appliance suspected, and wooden houseboats packed close together burn fast.

After heavy rain from 2 September 2014, the Jhelum rose above the danger mark by the 5th and by the 8th water stood about 12 feet deep in many neighbourhoods, including Lal Chowk and Rajbagh. Around 87,000 people were rescued from Srinagar city alone, so the flood plan matters for every riverside colony.