Fire dept to look at violations at hospital

New Delhi: Fire authorities and civic bodies would conduct an inspection of all buildings within AIIMS to look for loopholes in their fire-safety mechanisms that could impact operations in the event of another fire.

Even though the Teachers’ Block had a fire NOC, firemen say rules were violated by the guards and security officers. For instance, access to water hydrants was blocked by scrap. Also, temporary partitions were erected between rooms in which chemicals like methyl alcohol were stocked.

During an inquiry it was found that even though there were adequate fire safety mechanisms in place, no one, even the guard had heard any alarm. The blaze must have been on for at least an hour before the guards detected smoke. By the time, the fire brigade arrived, the blaze had spread across the floor.

The fire spread above as there was just a single entry and exit to charge water hydrants. This led the blaze to move to the other end where it came in contact with flammable material. Forensic teams later found that the heat generated was so intense that it impacted the concrete structure.

Senior fire officials said some buildings have been found without NOCs while some others had renewed NOCs but flouted the norms through temporary constructions. Therefore it took nearly a day to cool the building. Even the fire extinguishers were not adequate.

Sources say a roadmap for evacuation in case of fire will be laid out. Fortunately for AIIMS, people could be evacuated on time and a disaster was averted. But the inconvenience caused to the patients could have been avoided, said experts.