The Director-General of Punjab Emergency Service Department (PESD), Dr Rizwan Naseer said that PESD rescued 123964 victims while responding to 130072 emergencies with an average response time of seven minutes across Punjab during May 2022.
He said that out of 130072 emergencies, Rescue Service responded to 34045 were road traffic accidents, 75662 medical emergencies, 4901 fire incidents, 3835 crime incidents, 818 Animal Rescue, 191 drowning incidents, 43 structural collapses, and 10576 miscellaneous operations in Punjab. He was presiding over the monthly review meeting held at Emergency Services Headquarters here on Saturday, which was attended by all Heads of wings of Emergency Services Headquarters and Academy.
The Provincial Monitoring Cell briefed the DG PESD about monthly emergency statistics on this occasion. He was informed that PESD responded to 4901 fire emergencies including 219 forest fires during May across Punjab. Out of these 219 forest fires, the majority of 46 forest fires were reported in Rawalpindi Similarly 33 in Murree, 29 in Hafizabad, 25 in Narowal, 24 in Attock, and 10 in Chakwal while the remaining 52 wildfire cases were reported in other 17 districts of Punjab.
He was informed that 371 people died in 34045 Road Traffic Crashes in Punjab during the last month. Out of these traffic crashes, the majority of traffic crashes 8649 occurred in Lahore in which 51 people died. Similarly, 2756 RTCs in Multan, 2929 RTCs in Faisalabad, 2248 in Gujranwala, 1281 in Bahawalpur, and 1060 in Rawalpindi while the remaining 16596 accidents took place in 30 districts of Punjab. The data further revealed that out of 4682 fire incidents took place in major districts i.e., 443 incidents in Lahore, 165 in Faisalabad, 143 in RY Khan, 113 in Rawalpindi, 104 in Gujranwala and 101 in Multan. Similarly, the majority of electric shock incidents took place in major districts i.e 147 incidents in Lahore, 81 in Multan, 72 in Faisalabad, 58 in Bahawalpur and 42 in Lodhran.
DG Rescue Punjab showed his serious concern over the increasing number of Forest Fires. Rescue 1122 had responded to 2069 Forest Fire incidents from 2007 to 2022. However, a significant increase was observed in 2021 with 239 forest fire incidents and an alarming increase of 340 forest fires by May 2022. He said that the forests are important not only for human life but also for wildlife as well as for ecological balance. He requested all the residents and tourists visiting these forest areas to be careful and never set fires even for recreational purposes in forest areas as a small mistake can lead to a big disaster.
