‘Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night…?’

It was in 1794 that one William Blake, a poet of his time, wrote that famous poem, equating the shining eyes of a tiger in the wilderness to over-powering and frightening fire in the wild. His poem in compelling words stated, among other things, ‘Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night…?’

With the mention of fire there is usually the assumption of destruction and death and this has now been reinforced by the recent California wildfires in the US that have killed at least 10 people and destroyed some 10,000 homes and structures.

Many of us under the impression of what transpires in our country in such a situation are probably under the impression that those whose houses have been destroyed must be poor people and most probably living not in bungalows but in huts.

That is not the case as many Hollywood notables are among those whose houses were burned to the ground.

The recent California fires torched Calabasas and Santa Monica. These are home to California’s rich and famous. Mandy Moore, Cary Elwes and Paris Hilton were among the stars losing their homes. Billy Crystal and his wife Janice lost their home of 45 years in the Palisades.

The intensity of the fire can be gauged from the fact that several Hollywood studios suspended production, and Universal Studios had to close its theme park between Pasadena and Pacific Palisades.

Even the University of California, Los Angeles, had to cancel classes for the week.

Fires that according to history started about a million years ago as suggested by microscopic traces of wood ash are also nothing new in the city of Karachi and in its short history some of them with a death toll that even surpasses the present tragedy in California.

The one fire I remember as a child was the fire in Bohri Bazaar in Saddar in 1958. In the absence of tall structures that now hinder our view that fire could be seen from nearly all over the city.

This fire engulfed the center of the Bazaar which was at that time teeming with shoppers and their families as this was close to Eid festivities.

The most tragic episode of that fire was the trapping of several people including families inside a shoe shop. As the fire spread and panic ensued the people inside the shoe shop thought that some terrorist attack was underway so in a hurried move they brought down the steel shutters with a view to keeping themselves safe.

With the heat of the fire the steel shutter expanded and when the occupants of the shop realized that they have to escape the fire it was too late and the shutter would not open, burning them all in the most tragic event of that fire.

Another fire that the residents of Karachi cannot forget is the factory fire in Karachi’s industrial area, in which more than 250 garment workers lost their lives. Later it was established as a deliberate sabotage and the culprits duly sentenced. In an average year there are close to 1,600 incidents of fire in the city mostly due to lack of safety standards in residential buildings as well as commercial centers.

Substandard gas cylinders are mostly to be blamed as also their storage without considering safety guidelines.

Most buildings do not have adequate firefighting equipment and non-availability of water is another hurdle in putting out fires.

As the fires rage in California the authorities are in full swing not only in putting out the fires but adequately addressing related tasks like protecting houses that have been vacated by their residents and even discouraging what they term as price gouching by coming down hard on motels and other residences if they are found to increase their charges in order to take advantage of the situation.

Reminds me of how people trapped in a snow-storm in our own Murree were openly fleeced by all and sundry and the authorities could just watch helplessly.

The fires in California are a warning for all of us. Climate change is now threatening the entire globe.

When I see world powers like the US helpless before raging winds and fire I shudder to think how other lesser equipped countries that do not have these resources will respond when it is their time to face such holocausts.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025