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Panic reigns as fire grips KGMU building in Lucknow
Flames from the inferno leapt forward some five to seven feet due to strong wind, threatening to engulf the adjoining building too
Panic gripped patients and attendants as a fire broke out in an under-construction building on the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) campus, on Thursday.
Three floors of the building are under construction and on the ground floor, the psychiatry department hosts its out-patient department (OPD).
Thankfully, the OPD had got over for the day and no casualties were reported. Several patients/attendants in the cardiology department building became anxious and started screaming for help watching heavy smoke and flames.
Flames from the inferno leapt forward some five to seven feet due to strong wind, threatening to engulf the adjoining building too.
“The fire first broke out in the wood stock kept on the third or fourth floor. Apparently, while cooking food on the wooden chulha, workers left the fire unattended and this led to a major fire,” said Mangesh Kumar, chief fire officer of Lucknow.
As news about the fire broke, attendants in the department of cardiology, the adjacent building, became anxious. They started calling family members to arrange for ambulances, fearing that the fire may spread to other buildings.
“I called my brother and asked him to come with an ambulance or a four-wheeler so that we can shift my father admitted in the cardiology department. Though the fire was not in the cardiology department building but with wood stock burning anything could have happened,” said an attendant.
Vipul, who works at the OPD counter, said that the incident was reported around 1:45 pm as smoke was seen from the top floor. An attendant informed the staff. “The OPD was almost over and we had some 25 people on the ground floor who were taken out immediately as the smoke was reported. No property in the OPD was damaged as the fire did not come down from the third and fourth floor,” said Dr Vivek Agrawal, HoD, psychiatry.
Dr Sudhir Singh, spokesperson, KGMU said, “A committee will probe into the reasons of the fire. It will also suggest measures that can be taken to prevent such incidents in the future. Though the place where the fire broke out was not in use, yet the committee will study threats if any.”
In all, six fire tenders were pressed into service. One of them parked just beside the building under fire and the remaining queued up on the main road.
