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Major blaze at hospital in Baghpat, no casualties
Fire tenders rushed to the spot; patients, including 15 children, safely evacuated and shifted to other hospitals. It took a few hours for the firefighting team to douse the blaze, say police
MEERUT A major fire broke out on the third floor of Astha Multispeciality hospital in Baraut town of UP’s Baghpat district around 4.30 am on Monday due to a short circuit, triggering panic among the patients and staff. No casualties or injuries were reported, said police.
Fire tenders were rushed to the spot and patients, including 15 children, were safely evacuated and shifted to other hospitals. It took a few hours for the firefighting team to douse the blaze, the police said.
“After receiving information, four fire tenders were rushed to the spot and patients were evacuated safely,” said chief fire officer (Baghpat) Amrendra Pratap Singh.
Dr Abhinav Tomar of the childcare unit said he received information about the fire around 4.30am and rushed to the hospital. The fire broke out on the top floor and 15 children were undergoing treatment below that floor. “Our priority was to evacuate all children safely as few of them were on ventilator and oxygen,” said Tomar.
Waste material was dumped on the top floor and short circuit may have been the cause of fire. Other patients were undergoing treatment on other floors of the hospital, and all were safe, he added.
News of the fire created panic in the town and family members of patients gathered in large numbers along with locals.
District magistrate (Baghpat) Jitendra Pratap Singh said the fire broke out on the hospital’s third floor where waste items were kept under a tin shade.
The hospital had permission for constructing only two floors, but in violation of rules, they erected a third floor that was being used to store waste material. The fire department had issued a notice to the hospital 15 days ago, directing the management to remove the waste dump from the third floor, said the DM
Singh said the hospital was equipped with fire-fighting equipment, but it seemed that the staff trained to use it fled immediately after fire broke out.
Investigation was underway to ascertain the cause of the fire. Stern action would be initiated against those who failed to discharge their duties, he added.
