THRISSUR: A fire tragedy is waiting in almost all the hospitals in Thrissur as most of them are not adhering to the Kerala Municipal Building Rules (KMBR), National Building Code (NBC) and direction from the Kerala Fire and Rescue Services to put in place a fool proof fire system for the hospital buildings. Fire force officers who took part in the operation at Sun Medical and Research Centre pointed out that it was a fault on the part of the hospital authorities to store computers and printers in a room close to that of the patients.
DC has learnt from official in Fire Force that the fire station in Thrissur town had issued notices to 17 hospitals within the corporation limit for not following the safety rules. But even after dispatching two more reminders, they had not yet taken any corrective action. As the fire and safety department has no legal authority to take action against these hospitals, they remain mute spectators on the issue. "In case of a fire incident, the timely evacuation is of utmost importance and the Sun Medical and Research Centre is by far a hospital which follows rules and conducts mock fire drills. But, there are hospitals in the Thrissur Corporation Limit which do not have a proper fire system to fight fire in case of an incident," Assistant Station Officer at Thrissur Fire Station Balram Babu said.
Toxic smoke kills most people during a fire accident in buildings and hospitals. Even in Sun Hospital, the fire force personnel had to break open the ventilation glasses for the smoke to move out of the rooms and corridors, he noted. "As a hospital is the most difficult place to conduct evacuation due to the presence of patients, it is mandatory as per the fire safety rules to have two staircases for each floor and one fire escape stair outside the building. But, most of the old hospital buildings do not have such a system in place," he said. Another safety aspect is a fire safety lift for multi-storey hospitals with separate power connection to be operated during a fire incident using generators.
"For all the new buildings, we are very strict in issuing fire safety NOCs," he noted. In view of the fire incident at Sun Hospital in Thrissur, the Divisional Fire Officer from Kozhikode will be visiting the hospital and would prepare a detailed report about the reasons for the firebreak. Notices will be served to all the hospitals that did not have a foolproof fire safety system and building designed for smooth evacuation. Director General of Fire Force will also be giving a report to Thrissur Co-operation Secretary to take action against the hospitals that violate fire safety norms, fire force officials in Thrissur said.
