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Contribution short abstract:

This provocation rethinks the relationship between fire risk and heat, exploring how heat functions as both productive and potential energy. By adopting a broader view of heat, I highlight its interconnections with labour, infrastructure and energy, focusing on sites where fire is a chronic risk.

Contribution long abstract:

During the heatwave months of April to June 2024, fire incidents in Delhi more than doubled, with electrical ‘overloading’ cited as a leading cause. This placed immense strain on the city’s fire services, which were also described as being ‘overloaded’ by the rise in emergency calls. In May, two major fires broke out in my field site — in a factory in Bawana Industrial Area and a waste picker settlement in Shahbad Daulatpur. Long term engagement in these sites, however, revealed fire to be chronic risk beyond the heatwave period. It's conditions emanated from more than heat as ambient temperature – they included the concentration of materials and labour processes in space, with heat acting as both productive energy and a potential danger.

Drawing on ethnographic research in the industrial and waste frontiers of North Delhi, this roundtable provocation rethinks the relationship between heat and fire, focusing on the experience of workers who are routinely exposed to both. This includes firefighters, factory workers and waste pickers. By attuning to heat, not only as an environmental factor, but also an essential component in production processes and as latent energy stored in combustible materials, I reflect on its role in structuring fire risk, particularly in areas where physical and social infrastructures are under constant strain. As part of this, I borrow the concept of ‘overloading’ to frame the interconnections between weather, labour, infrastructure and energy, offering a more holistic approach for understanding fire risk in urban environments.