A firefighter was injured after an LPG cylinder exploded during a house fire in E-Block, Jahangirpuri, in northwest Delhi on Friday, police and fire officials said. The Delhi Fire Services received information about the blaze at 11.23 am and sent three fire tenders to the house, while police received a PCR call at 11.26 am.

Source: Nation Press

The injured firefighter, identified as Ankit, 32, sustained burns to his face, hair and both hands, assessed at around 25 per cent, according to police. He was first taken to Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital and later referred to the burn ward at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for further treatment.

Fire officials said the blaze involved domestic articles and an LPG cylinder on the ground floor of the three-storey building, and the cylinder exploded as the firefighter approached the burning house to douse the flames. The fire broke out at a house where Bharat, 30, lived with his mother, Raj Rani, who was present at the property when the incident occurred, police said. No resident casualties were reported, and no fatality had been confirmed in the incident as of the latest reports.

On the cause, police said a preliminary inquiry indicated that Bharat, who they alleged was addicted to alcohol, had set the house on fire, and that an FIR was being registered against him. That account remains an allegation at this stage: fire officials said the exact reason behind the fire had not been confirmed and the circumstances were still being examined, including how the fire originated and how the cylinder came to explode.

Firefighting and cooling work continued in the narrow residential lane after the blast, and officials said a formal investigation would establish the sequence of events once operations were complete.