Smoke alarm fails to go off as KGMU sleep lab catches fire

LUCKNOW: Fire broke out at the King George’s Medical University’s sleep research laboratory on Saturday morning. However, people were evacuated in time and there were no casualties.

The blaze was reportedly caused by a short circuit in the department of physiology, where sleep disorders are studied. Fortunately there were no patients there. What surprised many was that the fire alarm, believed to be functional, failed to go off.

At about 9 am, smoke was seen coming out of the building’s first floor. Panic ensued as everyone on the floor was asked to move out. Those on the ground floor also vacated the building.

The staff swung into action and doused the flames, preventing the blaze from spreading to others parts. Only the bed and the mattress where patients were made to sleep, and a few equipment attached to it to record readings, suffered damage.

“We immediately helped vacate the building and doused the flames. As the mattress had caught fire, smoke filled up the rooms, however, there was no other damage,” said Prof NS Verma, spokesperson, KGMU.

The lab will take a week to restart work as the damaged items will need to be replaced and the lab will have to be cleaned up, said head of the department, Prof Sunita Tiwari. However, the incident highlights the poor fire safety arrangements at the building. The lab staff said they were surprised that the smoke alarm failed to go off. “It was installed in the department and other buildings on the campus in 2012-13 and was considered to be functional,” said a staff member. The lab doesn’t have any water sprinkler system too.