Delhi Fire Service Faces Staff Crunch Of 1,001 Personnel, RTI Shows 523 Firemen Posts Vacant
Delhi Fire Service Faces Staff Crunch Of 1,001 Personnel, RTI Shows 523 Firemen Posts Vacant Reported By, Edited By Last Updated: June 03, 2026, 10:23
Delhi Fire Service Faces Staff Crunch Of 1,001 Personnel, RTI Shows 523 Firemen Posts Vacant Reported By, Edited By Last Updated: June 03, 2026, 10:23 IST Delhi has witnessed major fire incidents in recent months, claiming at least 45 lives this year, according to DFS records Rapid Read On May 4, a devastating fire ripped through a residential building in East Delhi's Vivek Vihar, killing nine people. The Delhi Fire Service (DFS) is operating with 1,001 vacancies against a sanctioned strength of 3,633, data obtained by News18 under RTI shows. Of the 1,001 vacant posts, more than half, 523, were in the firemen or fire operator cadre, data shows. In a reply to News18 under the Right to Information Act, 2005, the data shared by DFS shows that as of April, the vacancies account for about 28 per cent of the department’s sanctioned strength, suggesting that nearly three out of every 10 posts in the Delhi Fire Service are lying vacant. The post of the director is also vacant. Delhi has witnessed major fire incidents in recent months, claiming at least 45 lives this year, according to DFS records. Of the 3,633 sanctioned posts, 3,312 are for operational firefighting staff—personnel directly involved in firefighting and emergency response—and 823 of these posts are vacant of the total 1,001 vacancies in the department.
The vacancies represent nearly a quarter of the department’s operational firefighting workforce. Among the most acute shortages is the Station Officer cadre. Of the 90 sanctioned posts, only 18 are filled, leaving 72 vacancies. That means for every 10 sanctioned posts, eight are vacant. Station Officers are responsible for supervising firefighting operations and managing fire stations. Of the 823 vacancies in Delhi Fire Service’s operational firefighting staff, nearly two-thirds are in the Fireman/Fire Operator cadre alone, while driver vacancies account for another 14 per cent of the shortfall. The DFS has 2,367 sanctioned posts for the firemen or fire operator and 1,844 of these are filled, leaving 523 vacant posts, accounting for 22 per cent of the posts—over one in five. The Fireman/Fire Operator cadre accounts for the largest share of both sanctioned posts and vacancies. Drivers account for the second-largest shortfall, with 116 posts vacant. Of the 185 sanctioned driver posts, only 69 are filled, which means nearly two in every three positions are vacant. The department is also functioning with two of five posts vacant for the chief fire officer and three of five posts vacant for the deputy chief fire officer. Data from an earlier RTI, also obtained by News18, indicates that the shortages have persisted for years.
Driver vacancies rose from 28 to 116 between January 2019 and April 2026, while Station Officer vacancies increased from 62 to 72. However, vacancies among Firemen/Fire Operators declined from 1,253 to 523 during the same period. In 2019, a total of 1,583 posts were vacant. In December 2020, the DFS said a proposal to fill 706 Fire Operator posts had been sent to the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB) and that the recruitment process had been initiated. The two RTIs also show that while the overall vacancies have improved, the sanctioned strength of the operational firefighting staff has remained unchanged at 3,312 posts since 2019, while driver vacancies quadrupled and Station Officer vacancies increased further during the period. In total, at least 45 lives have been lost across Delhi in various fire incidents in the first five months of 2026, about nine lives every month on average. In March, at least 15 people died in fire incidents, including nine members of a family in Palam on March 18. AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj had criticised the government over the Palam fire, alleging delayed rescue efforts and faulty fire brigade equipment. On May 3, a major fire in Vivek Vihar killed another nine people. Last week, Dhanendra Kumar, a retired IAS officer and former chairman of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), died in a fire at his residence.
Delhi reported 13 fire-related deaths in May. Last month, the Delhi government asked the fire department to prepare a long-term firefighting master plan for the next 3, 15 and 25 years. The divisional officers have been instructed to work in coordination with RWAs, market associations, religious committees, park clubs, and other social organisations to conduct awareness campaigns related to fire safety. News18 Newsletter Handpicked stories, in your inbox A newsletter with the best of our journalism submit About the Author Nivedita Singh Nivedita Singh is a data journalist and covers the Election Commission, Indian Railways and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She has nearly seven years of experience in the news media. She twe... Read More First Published: June 03, 2026, 10:23 IST News cities new-delhi-news Delhi Fire Service Faces Staff Crunch Of 1,001 Personnel, RTI Shows 523 Firemen Posts Vacant Disclaimer: Comments reflect users’ views, not News18’s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments...
The BriefWire