Sprinkler System Prevents Fire Spread at City Hospital
24th March 2025
An automatic sprinkler system activated quickly to contain a ferocious fire which broke out at a city hospital in Tamil Nadu.
The blaze, which occurred on January 1st 2025, led to the hurried evacuation of patients at the Government Ramanathapuram Medical College Hospital.
The fire started in the hospital’s second-floor power room. With the area engulfed in flames, urgent action was required to prevent fire spreading to other areas where many patients – some of whom were vulnerable – were housed. Firefighters arrived quickly at the site. They were met with a dramatic scene – a ball of raging flames and plumes of thick black smoke that were starting to spread throughout hospital wards.
As crews worked quickly to extinguish the flames, hospital staff rushed to evacuate patients from the building’s second, third and fourth floors to safer spaces. Some patients were carried out in beds and wheelchairs.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control in rapid time. However, with smoke continuing to linger throughout the building, there remained a risk to patients. A local authority spokesman confirmed two intensive care patients were transferred to the hospital’s Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) unit. The spokesman revealed that an electric short circuit in the hospital’s power room was caused the fire. No casualties were reported.
Patients and staff were potentially spared a more serious outcome thanks to the hospital’s automatic sprinkler fire alarm system. It activated quickly to contain the blaze, with fire fighters extinguishing what remained of the fire and focused on smoke dispersal.
“Around 300 patients were safely shifted in 25 minutes. Automatic emergency water sprinklers were activated and were able to control the spread of fire and smoke. No one suffered any suffocation or breathing difficulties,” said District Collector Simranjeet Singh Kahlon who inspected the hospital along with Superintendent of Police G Chandeesh.
This incident highlights why automatic sprinkler systems are essential to public and commercial buildings. In the hospital’s case, it was not only occupied by many patients, some of whom were immobile and vulnerable, it was filled with life-saving machines and equipment. Had the blaze taken hold and destroyed these crucial, sophisticated life-support systems, the long-term impact on the hospital and its community could have been devastating.