Burning ICU: 60 firemen over 5 hrs rescue 200
Sixty firemen battled heavy smoke for five hours to rescue 200 patients from the burning Lok Bandhu Hospital in Lucknow, saving lives in the ICU.
In all, 60 firemen from the Lucknow fire department fought for five hours against heavy smoke to rescue 200 patients from the burning Lok Bandhu Hospital on Monday night, the department claimed on Tuesday.
“It took five hours for our 60 people, including officers, to rescue nearly 200 people and douse the flames,” said Mangesh Kumar, chief fire officer (CFO), Lucknow. “The fire which started around 9 pm was completely controlled around 2:30 am,” he added.
“The entire building was filled with smoke and a massive fire was lapping the second floor, where hundreds of patients and their attendants were trapped in the ICU and other wards. They were pleading for help and some were trying to jump out from the windows. Scores of people were running around in the hope of saving their loved ones,” said Dharampal Singh, fire safety officer, Alambagh.
“While inspecting the spot, we found out that most patients and their attendants were stuck in the ICU ward, towards which the smoke was rising very fast. Rescue equipment reached the ICU ward through the stairs where the temperature had risen dramatically and poisonous smoke was rapidly moving towards the ICU ward.
The whole team entered the ICU ward and closed all its doors which were airtight, and after talking to the team of doctors there, adequate ventilation was provided in the ward and a ladder was installed on the outer wall to evacuate serious patients.
“A path was prepared by cutting the windows of the ICU ward and after breaking all the ventilation glasses, the rescue was carried out through the ladder,” said RK Rawat, FSO, Hazratganj, who also got injured in the rescue operation.
Chowk FSO Pushpendra Kumar started the rescue work by installing smoke exhausts at the right place to stop the toxic smoke from entering the ward when the door was opened and to take out patients through the stairs to the ambulance.
Sarojini Nagar fire station in-charge, Sumit Pratap Singh, recounted how the attendants were crying and there was no way out due to the heat and toxic smoke. They were screaming and pleading to save them and their loved ones.
“The ‘fauji’ in me came alive when we found out about the fire,” said security guard Yogendra Kumar Singh, who returned only hours after his shift ended from his house 8km away, to help with the rescue effort. After aiding with rescue and evacuation till 2:30AM, he went home, only to return again for his morning shift at 9AM. “As a security guard for a hospital, I feel responsible for the patients, whether I am on duty or off. I thought that my own people were in trouble, and not reaching the hospital was out of the question.” On Tuesday morning, Singh was assigned to the director herself, shadowing her around the hospital all morning. “We would have stayed and helped the whole night if needed,” he said.
“We made four to five trips in and out of the hospital to rescue newborns while the fire was still blazing,” said Dr Brajesh Kumar. “Trying to climb up the stairs, my eyes began burning because of the smoke and we were all battling coughing fits while carrying the babies out.” Dr Kumar, who was a short distance away from the hospital, raced back when he heard the news of the fire. With the special newborn care unit or SNCU and paediatric ward housing 33 children, 11 of whom were newborns, some hooked to ventilators, they had to be carried downstairs carefully. “Along with resident doctors of the ward and others, I evacuated all the children safely. While the children from the paediatric ward made it out quicker, the newborns took around 30 mins to fully evacuate,” he said.
“I entered the ICU and first started smashing all the windows so that the smoke could get out,” said Saif Kidwai, who arrived at the scene minutes before the firefighters. “With the help of ICU in-charge Dr Deepak, we evacuated all the four ICU patients in pitch darkness. It was particularly tricky as these patients had to be taken out along with the ventilators,” he explained. Kidwai reached the hospital at 9:30PM, even though his duty hours get over at 5PM. “I wrapped a cloth over my nose and mouth and made my way up the stairs — I knew that while the other patients would be evacuated, the ICU patients had to be a priority.” Kidwai has worked at Lok Bandhu Hospital since 2012. He said, “After coming out of the building I needed to take a long break as I was having trouble breathing from inhaling all the smoke. But at the time, all I could think of was evacuating the critical patients as soon as possible.”
