Following fire accidents in temporary COVID-19 care centres and hospitals treating them in different parts of the country, the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) conducted a workshop for hospitals in Chennai on Thursday.
“Most of the accidents that happened in temporary COVID-19 care centres in places including Mumbai, Vijawada, Rajkot, happened early in the morning or late at night when there was no one to notice the fire. This led to many deaths. Hence we wanted to educate the hospitals in Chennai about preventing such accidents,” said a senior TNFRS officer.
Security officers from 80 hospitals took part in the workshop. The TNFRS DGP C. Sylendra Babu and S. Vijayasekhar, Additional Director (Operations), TNFRS and Priya Ravichandran, joint director, TNFRS, Northern Region took part in the event.
Mr. Sylendra Babu spoke on the importance of maintaining fire safety systems in the hospitals. He also stressed on the importance of carrying out a fire audit and training security personnel in handling the situation in case of a fire accident.
“Since the COVID-19 patients may already suffer from lung problems, smoke from the accident can lead to asphyxiation. So it is important to have a fire detection systems in place. As such mishaps have occurred during night or early morning hours, trained people should be available round the clock to help shift patients to safety and inform the TNFRS. We have Aerial Ladder Platforms which can go up to 105 meters and help in fighting fires,” said Mr. Babu.
A senior TNFRS officer said that they have been conducting fire safety audits in hospitals. “We also conducted a fire safety drill during the workshop,” said the officer.