The Delhi government plans to set up 10 new fire stations at strategic locations across the city to boost firefighting operations, officials said on Wednesday. The proposed sites include Geeta Colony, Rohini Sector 41, Yamuna Vihar, Dwarka Sector 20, Anand Parbat, IFC Narela, IFC Ghazipur, Chandrawal Waterworks, Budhanpur Majra Training Centre and Dwarka Sector 3. Eight of the stations are earmarked for development in the first phase and each facility will be able to accommodate up to six fire tenders. Officials said the additional stations should enable the Delhi Fire Services to position more firefighting vehicles closer to areas requiring rapid intervention and to improve response times. Delhi presently has 71 fire stations and the expansion is being planned alongside a sanctioned increase in personnel, with the Union ministry of home affairs having technically vetted a proposal to create 10,743 new posts. Officials said they are working on modalities to allocate staff to the new facilities and that the Fire Services has opened discussions with the Public Works Department on construction timelines. Work on individual stations will begin only after assessments are completed on land availability, approach roads and technical and equipment requirements, officials added. The expansion plan follows several deadly fires in the capital, including the blaze at a bed and breakfast in Hauz Rani on June 3 that killed 23 people, and earlier residential fires in Palam and Vivek Vihar on March 18 and May 3 that claimed nine lives each. Following the Hauz Rani incident the government intensified inspections of fire stations and reviewed operational preparedness, with a surprise check on June 17 at the Naraina station prompting directions to address gaps in technology, documentation and infrastructure. The government indicated that strengthening both physical infrastructure and operational capacity is intended to improve the geographical spread of facilities and to reduce the distance fire tenders must travel to incident sites.