A Fire Incident Case at a Radiodiagnostic Center of a Tertiary Care Hospital: Methods for Reduction in Fatality by Smoke Evacuation

Abstract

For the general public, healthcare facilities are always a safe and secure place for treatment. Generally, healthcare institutions are equipped to deal with exterior interruptions, but circumstances brought on by internal risks are more serious and frequently require an emergency evacuation of the facility. An incident happened at the radiodiagnostic setup of a tertiary care institute in North India. This fire incident created panic among staff and patients. At the place of casualty, there were around 150 persons, including staff, patients, and their attendants. Immediately after the confirmation of the fire incident, the fire department and security department took action in the form of fire control and smoke evacuation. Though six fire handling staff required minor emergency services for asphyxia due to smoke inhalation and were cured by oxygen support only, none of the patients was affected due to timely smoke evacuation. Most often, smoke management techniques implemented are compartmentation, pressurization, dilution, ventilation, buoyancy, and airflow. So, we concluded that the step of timely smoke evacuation and preventing the spread of smoke by various methods help to reduce fatality due to smoke. The training programs and mock drills give stakeholders the needed knowledge, skills, and practice they need to safeguard patients and employees.