Srinagar, Jan 24: A fire broke out in the highly inflammable Oxygen Plant of the JLNM Hospital here today. However, timely efforts by few employees of the hospital averted a major tragedy. Four staffers were injured in the incident.
Flames were seen roaring from the rooftop of the Oxygen Plant of JLNM Hospital around 12:55 pm, causing panic among the patients and attendants. The fire caused chaos around the hospital and people were seen running away from the spot of the fire, a witness told Greater Kashmir. The fire was later controlled and prevented from spreading to other areas.
Dr Bilquees Shah, Deputy Medical of the Hospital said the fire started in the roof of the Oxygen plant, “but it was due to the timely and brave efforts of employees of the hospital that a major tragedy was averted”. “Oxygen Plant Room Roof top caught fire while welding of the roof was going on and the PVC sheets of the roof caught fire,” she said. She said the plant room has 4000 Lpm Oxygen Generation plants and luckily the top floor harboring 2000 Lpm plant was shut. Liquified Oxygen, she said, is highly volatile and if the fire had reached the oxygen cylinders, the entire hospital was under threat.
Dr Shah said a group of employees climbed the plant roof from inside with fire extinguishers. “Thankfully, there was no damage to the Oxygen Plant and no damage to hospital property but four employees received minor injuries. They are stable now,” she said.
Assistant Executive Engineer of Mechanical Division, which was carrying out the welding work on the rooftop, Jahan Ara said that the fire was controlled “within few minutes”. “We had kept ready remedial measures to avert an accident of fire. There were fire extinguishers in the oxygen plant and they came in handy,” she said. While denying any complacency in safety measures by the department, she said, “It was just one panel that caught the fire and we were prepared for any such accident.”