After Thane, Mumbai on Monday banned aerial firecrackers till November 25, with violators facing up to six months in jail, an unusual and, on fire-safety grounds, unprecedented step following a surge in fires caused by firecrackers on Diwali night.

Firecrackers caused 96 per cent of the fires reported in the city on Sunday. The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) received 142 fire calls, of which 137 were triggered by firecrackers, according to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data. With this ban, most of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region has now been barred from using aerial firecrackers.

Hours earlier on Monday, Thane district, in a first for Maharashtra, banned rockets and similar flying firecrackers until January 8, 2027, more than six weeks longer than Mumbai’s ban. That order applies to all six municipal corporations in the district: Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Bhiwandi, Mira-Bhayandar and Ulhasnagar.…