The inferno that gutted the National Museum for Natural History in New Delhi’s Tansen Marg on Tuesday has exposed a chink in the museum’s fire-safety armour. The Delhi Fire Services Chief GC Mishra said that the museum’s fire fighting system in place was not working. Besides, underground water tank could not be utilised as the pumps attached to it were out of order. However, Museum Director B Venugopal refuted the claims and said the safety arrangements were in place but the fire being too strong, the safety arrangements were not enough to control it.
The intensity of the fire was horrific that fire department had to use more than eight lakh litres of water to douse it. The fire erupted in one of the wooden chamber of the sixth floor and the smoke coming out from the floor was witnessed around 1.40 am. The fire officials were informed around 1.45 am following which the fire personnel on night shift at Super Bazaar of New Delhi were rushed to the spot. According to fire department sources, initially only 25 fire tenders were sent and that of Super Bazaar were first to reach. Five to seven fire officials entered into the third and fourth floor of the building but they got trapped in the smoke.
A fire department official said, “We received a message that several officers have suffered asphyxiation, chest pain and breathlessness.” Dousing operation was suspended for 15 minutes and the injured officers were taken out from the building and admitted to Ram Manohar lohiya Hospital. later more than 50 fire tenders rushed to the spot and it took four hours to take control of the fire.
Meanwhile, fire officers claimed that the national museum had no arrangements in place to fight a disaster like this. While fire services chief Mishra said, “The fire officials’ work has to be appreciated and within four hours the flames were taken control of despite lack of arrangements from the museum’s part.”
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) official also said, “The water pumps installed in underground water tank located inside the museum were non-operational.” He further stated, “Though there were workers who were deployed in the museum to run the pumps but because of their malfunctioning, they could do little.”
It was reported that fire department will send the report to the Ministry defining the state of the building. “The cement base of the building has been ripped out and we fear it can collapse in future…We will propose to demolish the building and reconstruct it again,” said the DDMA official. However, the museum authorities defied the claims of negligence and said, “Every safety measure was intact in the museum.” The Museum Director said, “How can fire officials come out to a sweeping conclusion without properly studying the structure of the building.”
Meanwhile, electricity supply to the FICCI Federation House and KK Birla Auditorium was disconnected to avoid further discrepancies in the cooling
operation.