Hyderabad: As many as 4187 fire accidents reported in Telangana last year were caused due to careless smoking, the state fire services department said.
Of the total 7899 fire accidents reported, while the human negligence of throwing still burning cigarette butts dominated maximum cases, those caused due to electrical short circuit stood at 1992.
The other causes of the fire were found to be faulty chimney in companies, gas coal furnace, arson, spontaneous combustion, oven stoves and mechanical heat/sparks.
While the fire department saved 59 lives in these accidents, they also managed to save over Rs 959 crore of property from getting burnt, a statement from the department read.
The department conducted 4,929 mock drills across the state and 223 surprise inspections were held.
The fire department is organizing a Fire Safety Week from April 14 to 20 and will take up several fire precautions and fire safety programs during this week.