Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay, TNN Dec 15, 2011, 06.15AM IST
KOLKATA: The AMRI Dhakuria night staff not only wasted two precious hours trying to douse the fire on their own, they even refused to let the fire brigade enter when the entire annexe building had already turned into a gas chamber and patients were dying.
Fire officials investigating the blaze have told TOI that the basement was packed with highly inflammable goods - from LPG and oxygen cylinders to chemicals, floor cleaners and PVC material. There was so much of it that forensic experts found it difficult to identify where the fire started.
"It was a veritable jatugriha (tinderbox)," an officer said. Wooden boxes, empty medicine cartons, plastic boxes and cotton were dumped in huge quantities. This is what created the unstoppable clouds of smoke that took 93 lives.
Investigators have pinpointed three possible sources of the blaze. First, a gas stove that should never have been used next to flammable stuff. Fire officials have found evidence that it was used to make tea, perhaps for the night shift. Second, electric cables that did not have the mandatory fireproof casing. Fire officials have found burn-out cables, indicating a short circuit. A spark here would have easily ignited any of the chemicals or plastics dumped around. An asbestos casing would have prevented the sparks from flying about but the cables were open, said sources. Third, the air-conditioning mother plant.
What turned a dangerous situation into a disaster was the AMRI response. "Koi dikkat nahin. Hum aag bujha diye hain (No problem. We have managed to douse the fire)," security guards told the fire brigade when the first engines arrived at 4.15am. Thankfully for the 70-odd patients who survived , the fire team - led by the Gariahat fire station OC pushed past them.
"We forced our way in and entered the basement. It was completely covered with dense smoke. The fire was smouldering in different corners. It was clear that hospital personnel had made a long but futile attempt to douse the fire," said a Gariahat fire station officer, who was the first to reach the site after receiving a call at 4.10am from the Kolkata Police control room. The AMRI personnel wasted close to two hours in trying to fight the fire on their own without the requisite equipment or the training.
