Fire in Vadodara hospital; 23 patients rescued, none hurt
At least 23 patients, including 17 COVID-19 patients, were evacuated to safety following a minor fire at a private hospital in Gujarat's Vadodara city on Wednesday night, the officials said. "Nobody was injured in the fire, which engulfed a portion of Shree Vijay Vallabh Sarvajanik Hospital in the Mandvi area of Vadodara City," said Vadodara Collector Shalini Agarwal. Here are more details.
Fire started on first floor, smoke reached second, third floors
"All the 23 patients, including 17 COVID-19 patients, were rescued and shifted to other hospitals following the fire. No injury or casualty was reported in the mishap," she said. "While the blaze started on the first floor of the four-story hospital, smoke reached the second and the third floors," fire officer Amit Chaudhary said.
Firemen broke window panes to evacuate patients
Chaudhary said that the Pani Gate Fire Station of Vadodara received the fire call at 9:05 pm. The hospital had only one COVID-19 ward. The Times of India reported a fire official saying that the firemen broke windowpanes of the hospital to evacuate the patients.
Took about an hour to bring the blaze under control
Chaudhary said, "The fire came under control in about one hour. Since thick smoke covered the upper floors, we rescued all the 23 patients and shifted them to other hospitals." "Since there was only one staircase in the hospital, we used three to four ladders to evacuate some patients from windows. No one was injured in the incident," he added.
Reason for the fire yet to be determined
The fire officials said that the reason for the fire is yet to be ascertained. It must be noted that 39 patients were evacuated from a fire that broke out in the ICU unit of SSG Hospital of Vadodara in September last year.
