20230730 Fire breaks out in Ahmedabad hospital; 106 patients evacuated
India Jul 30 2023 “Building” “Hospitals”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 1 to 9
Fire breaks out in Ahmedabad hospital; 106 patients evacuated
Updated: 2023-07-30
AHMEDABAD: A short-circuit triggered a major fire in the basement of Rajasthan Hospital in Shahibaug area of the city in the wee hours of Sunday.
A total of 106 patients were shifted to other hospitals and a community centre.
No injuries were reported.
Senior officials of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and city police along with Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services (AFES) reached the spot.
Senior AFES officials said that it may take several more hours to douse the fire.
Jayesh Khadia, chief fire officer, AFES, said that the control room got a call at 3.30am on Sunday that a fire erupted in the basement of Rajasthan Hospital.
“The first vehicle reached the spot in a matter of five minutes. Prima facie, it is believed that the fire started by a spark due to a short-circuit in the stored bedding and clothes at the hospital. The fire spread in other parts of the basement as smoke started billowing from the basement,” he said, adding, “Brigade call was announced as all 31 vehicles and more than 100 personnel at our disposal were pressed into operation.”
While the hospital trustees refused to talk about the incident, sources close to the development said that a total of 106 patients were present in the hospital when the fire incident took place.
“Out of total, seven were in ICU and CCU (child critical care unit). They were shifted to Anand Surgical Hospital in the same area, BAPS Hospital in Shahibaug and SAL Hospital in drive-in area. The rest of the patients were shifted to Oswal Community Hall at the distance of 500 meters from the hospital,” said a trust official.
Sanjay Kumar Bansal, a resident of Kalol near Gandhinagar, was with his wife at the time of the fire in the hospital. “At about 4am, we heard the commotion as the workers of the hospital asked us whether we had any vehicles in the basement. We got to know that there was a fire and also witnessed smoke,” he said. “But there was no smoke in the hospital. We were told at around 7am that we were being shifted to a community hall for precaution. My wife, who was admitted in the hospital on Friday, is stable.”
Loonchand Kankariya, trustee of the Oswal Welfare Society that runs the community hall, said that they got to know about the incident at around 7am. “We had a couple of bookings for the community events. We requested them to shift it to other venues. We have 24 rooms, three dormitories and two halls for the community events. All were given to the hospital. Those that needed advanced care were provided rooms where medical equipment were also set up. The community is taking care of lodging and boarding,” he said.
Ramesh Merja, deputy municipal commissioner, AMC, who was on the spot overseeing the AFES operations, told that the upper floors and basement were not connected. “A retaining wall was constructed at the time of the renovation. Thus, there is no direct access from the basement to the hospital. It saved the patients as there was no smoke that entered the main hospital premises. However, learning from the past incidents, our first response was to evacuate all the patients. As of now, there are no people in the main building,” he said.
AFES officials said that there was a huge storage area of the hospital peripherals that caused the fire. “Fortunately, none of the parked vehicles including 10-odd four-wheelers and 40-odd two-wheelers caught fire. The smoke accumulation however took a long time due to limited space. We have used robots and fans in addition to the conventional methods to take the smoke out of the basement. It, however, would take several hours,” said a senior AFES official.
Web Source: The Times of India