Major fire at Calcutta Medical College, 250 patients evacuated
Kolkata: A major fire broke out at Calcutta Medical College on Wednesday morning, leading to the evacuation of around 250 patients with 10 fire engines pressed into action. The fire broke out in the pharmacy department of the said building.
A patient allegedly died while he was being shifted to another ward due to the smoke. Saidul Islam, a resident of Khanakul in Hooghly, died due to breathlessness and his family members alleged that Islam was not in a condition to be shifted without proper precaution. The hospital authority could not be reached for comment.
According to the fire brigade officials, the control room received the information at 7:58 am and within 10 minutes, four tenders were sent to the spot. Later, six more fire tenders were pressed into action. Sources informed that around 7:30 am, some security staff members smelt something burning but could not identify the source. A few minutes later, people saw smoke coming out of the pharmacy of the hospital on the ground floor. Immediately, the police, fire brigade and principal Asish Bose was informed.
Soon staff from the security and nurses were ordered to evacuate the building at war footing. Relatives of the patients also joined hands with the nurses and other staff members to evacuate the building. After evacuating all patients from the department of General Medicine, department of Cardiology, department of Community Medicine and Institute of Hematology and transfusion medicine, fire-fighters started their dousing the flames. The fire-fighters succeeded to control the fire within the ground floor. But the smoke spread all over the building as there were no ventilation shafts. The fire-fighters had to break a portion of the wall at the back portion of the building to let out the smoke. Some of them fell ill and complained of breathlessness due to smoke. They were given oxygen and first aid in the hospital.
"The ground floor contains a number of inflammable materials like medicines, oxygen cylinders, bandages, cotton and spirit. Our personnel have gained entry into the building and have located the source of the fire. The fire-fighting management system worked well. There was no problem in getting a free supply of water from the hydrants," said Jag Mohan, the Director General (DG) of Fire.
During the fire-fighting operation, state Fire minister Sovan Chatterjee reached Calcutta Medical College to oversee the situation. He waited there and supervised the whole operation until the fire was controlled. Around 9:30 am, the situation improved and the cooling process had started.
