Puri: A few days after fire brigade officials inspected safety measures at several lodgings and holiday homes in the Holy city here, a fire broke out at the utility store of hotel Pride Ananya at VIP Road Tuesday.
However, a timely alert and quick action by the fire brigade officials prevented any casualty.
Sources said some tourists staying in the five-storey hotel spotted smoke billowing out from the utility store, located on the third floor, around 6 am. They immediately raised an alarm. Soon the hotel employees alerted the fire station about the incident and asked all the lodgers to vacate their rooms.
Fire officials with three fire engines rushed to the spot and doused the fire. They also searched all rooms on the third floor to see if anyone was trapped. “We spotted smoke in our room around 6 am. Soon we came to know that the smoke was coming from the utility store. We informed the hotel employees and vacated our rooms,” said Sanjay Kumar Patra, a faculty member of Burla Engineering College. Hotel manager Pradip Kumar Behera said they gave priority to the evacuation of all boarders soon after learning about the fire. “We had adequate fire-safety measures. We tried to douse the fire and sought immediate help from fire brigade,” he added.
However, a source in the fire brigade department refuted Behera’ claim. According to it, the hotel had fire-safety measures but there were no trained personnel to manage them. “Preliminary investigation found that the fire broke out due to a short circuit. There could have been casualties had the incident occurred at night,” said a fire-brigade employee.
PNN
