india

Updated: Mar 25, 2019 00:52 IST

A fire broke out in the basement of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Trauma Centre on Sunday evening, prompting an evacuation of more than 50 patients to ‘safer blocks’, police said.

Fire department officials said that there were no casualties in the incident and some patients — from the ground floor till the sixth floor — were evacuated and shifted to other blocks of the hospital building.

The fire triggered panic among patients, their attendants and visitors. Police suspect that the blaze may have started due to a short-circuit.

The AIIMS administration issued a press statement and said that they have initiated an enquiry to ascertain the cause of the fire and to suggest further measures for improvement in their fire fighting mechanism.

Chief fire officer Atul Garg said that the fire control room received a call regarding the blaze AIIMS after which four fire tenders rushed there within a couple of minutes.

“As the fire had originated from one of the stores adjacent to the operation theatre in the basement and heavy smoke was coming out, 20 more fire tenders — along with 40-50 fire fighters — were rushed to the hospital to contain the blaze. The fire was controlled by 8pm. However, the cooling operation continued till late in the night,” said Garg.

Garg said that since the smoke was rapidly spreading towards the upper floors, the hospital authorities were asked to evacuate the floors and shift the patients to safer places in the building. The electricity supply was cut and the lift operations were also disabled.

A senior doctor at AIIMS Trauma Centre, requesting anonymity, said, “Almost all of us were trying to shift patients to safer blocks.”

Patients from four floors (3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th), which house private wards, were moved to other departments. According to the doctor, around 50 patients were moved to safety, most of who were mainly accommodated in the emergency department.

“Almost all patients moved are non-critical. Private wards usually don’t have critical patients. The fire seem to have caught in the OT store,” the doctor said.

Since the lifts were disabled, the hospital staff members were using stairs to move patients. “No patient was evacuated from the building as that situation hadn’t arisen. However, we were prepared to evacuate the building, ,” the doctor said.

Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Devender Arya said that the preliminary enquiry into the fire revealed that it originated from the store room in the operation theatre complex on the basement. “The presence of beds and other inflammable items in the store caused heavy smoke. A search operation was conducted after the fire was doused. Luckily, nobody was hurt in the fire,” he said.