Cellar Fire Causes Panic At Private School
The security guard allegedly hired another person to clear the trash. Instead of removing it, the person allegedly set the waste on fire inside the cellar, triggering heavy smoke that spread to the ground floor and alarmed school staff, police said.
Hyderabad: Panic prevailed at a private school in Miyapur on Tuesday after thick smoke spread from the cellar to the ground floor when trash was burnt inside the basement, police said. No injuries, property loss, or cases of asphyxiation were reported in the incident.
The incident occurred at Narayana School, a building with two cellars, a ground floor and five upper floors, both basements earmarked for parking. Paper and dry waste collected in the second cellar on Monday evening was supposed to be disposed of outside the premises.
On Tuesday morning, the security guard allegedly hired another person to clear the trash. Instead of removing it, the person allegedly set the waste on fire inside the cellar, triggering heavy smoke that spread to the ground floor and alarmed school staff, police said.
Fire officials said they received information around 11.50 am and rushed to the spot with a fire tender and smoke exhausters. “The school management had evacuated the students by the time we arrived and declared a holiday,” a fire officer said.
Fire officials later clarified that it was not a fire accident but smoke caused by burning waste. There were no electrical meters or wiring in the affected cellar, and the trash was at a safe distance from parked vehicles. Personnel took nearly an hour to completely clear the smoke using exhausters.
The Miyapur police registered a case and booked the person who allegedly set the trash on fire.