Are fires always caused by carelessness? Mostly, yes.

Fires in crowded places often happen because people are not careful enough. Recently, deadly fires broke out in Hong Kong, Goa, and a Swiss holiday resort called Crans-Montana. The details of the Swiss fire are still unclear, but survivors said the bar had a wooden ceiling, and waitresses were carrying champagne bottles with fireworks and candles attached. Mixing fire with wood indoors is a bad idea. The same mistake happened in a Goa restaurant last month, where fireworks were lit under a wooden ceiling.

These mistakes cost many lives. About 40 people died in the Swiss bar, 25 in Goa, and 161 in Hong Kong’s Wong Fuk Court in November 2025. In Hong Kong, the fire spread quickly because bamboo scaffolding and green netting were used during building repairs. These materials are also common in India. Ordinary people may not realise how dangerous they are, but inspectors who give safety approvals should.

History shows the same pattern. In London, the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 killed 72 people. It began with a fridge catching fire, but flames spread to all 24 floors because the building was covered with cheap, flammable panels. Similar panels can be seen on many buildings in India today.

Common sense tells us that fire should only be used in safe places, like inside a stove or an engine. Yet we often see fairy lights hung on cloth curtains or too many appliances plugged into one socket. These can cause electrical fires. Such fires are not “accidents” — they are preventable. Once a fire becomes very strong, no building is truly safe. Even the Twin Towers collapsed in fire. In 1903, Chicago’s Iroquois Theatre, said to be fireproof, burned down just one month after opening, killing 600 people.

Let’s hope that in 2026, building owners and government inspectors around the world take fire safety seriously — before more lives are lost.

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