New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS) A major fire broke out at a hotel in Ghaziabad, triggering widespread chaos and panic in the area. Several fire tenders were battling the blaze at the Banana Tree Hotel & Banquets, located in the Site IV Industrial Area of Sahibabad, till last reports came in.
The reason for the fire was not immediately known, but firefighters successfully evacuated 18 stranded individuals from the hotel, and there were no casualties due to the fire.
The fire broke out on an upper floor at the rear portion of the hotel and began to engulf the commercial establishment rapidly. Renovation work was underway at the hotel at the time of the incident.
As the Ghaziabad Fire Department received an alarm, it rushed fire tenders to the spot and initiated rescue operations.
Thick smoke and flames were seen erupting from the hotel premises. Multiple fire teams and personnel are currently deployed on-site, conducting extensive firefighting operations to bring the fire under control and prevent it from spreading further.
According to the Fire Department, the control room at the Vaishali fire station received a report of a fire at the Banana Tree Hotel, Site-4, Sahibabad, at noon on Tuesday. Two fire tenders were immediately dispatched from Vaishali fire station, and additional fire engines were sent from the nearby Sahibabad fire station.
It was discovered that the fire originated on the fifth floor, where renovation work was in progress. The flames were spreading rapidly toward the higher floors.
As the fire reached alarming levels, filling the hotel with smoke, it posed a daunting challenge for the firefighters. The latter mounted a daring rescue and managed to safely rescue 18 people trapped inside the hotel.
While one team evacuated the residents from the hotel, others worked to extinguish the fire. They utilised the hotel’s existing fire-fighting system to lay out hose lines and pumped water from fire tenders to the upper floors via stairwells to combat the flames.
There have been no reports of fatalities or loss of life in the incident, but it does raise questions regarding safety protocols and fire-fighting arrangements during the renovation work that was underway at the hotel.
–IANS
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