Bengaluru: Panic prevailed on busy Residency Road in the heart of the city on Monday morning after more than 200 guests and employees of The Chancery Pavilion, a 5-star hotel, were asked to evacuate the building following a fire in the second basement of the building. Fortunately, no casualties were reported but a person who inhaled thick smoke during the fire, was hospitalised and discharged shortly afterwards. Seven fire tenders fought for over an hour to bring the fire under control, while three more hours were taken to clear the thick blanket of smoke which had spread inside the building through the chimney.
Fire control room officials said at 11.04 am, they received a call from one of the employees of the hotel alerting them about the fire. Initially two fire tenders were rushed from High Grounds fire station. However, considering the magnitude of the fire, more fire tenders were pressed into action. Chaos prevailed while as many as 200 people came out on the footpath, including employees and guests of the hotel, soon after the news of the fire broke out. Senior police officials including DGP, Fire and Emergency Services, M. N. Reddi, DIG H. S. Revanna and DCP (Central) Sandeep Patil, along with over 50 staff members, rushed to the spot.
Supervising the operation himself, Mr. Reddi said that due to the thick smoke, it was difficult for the fire fighters to reach the source of the fire. “The blaze began in the second basement of the building. Cloth used for housekeeping like linen, towels, sheets, which are inflammable, were stored there. As these materials caught fire, the volume of smoke rose. Locating the source of fire through the dense smoke was difficult, but our fire fighters with the help of breathing-masks and suction machines were able to clear the smoke and extinguish the fire,” he said.
When asked the reason for the fire, Mr. Reddi said that it was too early to identify the cause of the fire. He also added that a probe has been ordered to verify the exact cause of the fire and to check if there were any lapses on the part of the hotel. According to Raveesh, a guest at the hotel, the smoke was not seen. “We were about to head for breakfast when an alarm was raised and all the guests were asked to rush out of the building for safety,” said Raveesh.
Meanwhile, one of the employees of the hotel told DC that as soon as they noticed thick smoke billowing from the basement, an alarm was raised, following which all electrical supply was shut down temporarily and the guests were safely evacuated through the staircase. DCP Sandeep Patil said that there were more than 200 people in the place, as there was a meeting organized in the building. All of them were evacuated before the fire spread, he added.
