Fire at hotel on Residency Rd causes panic

A fire in the second basement of The Chancery Pavilion, a five-star hotel, triggered panic on the busy Residency Road on Monday morning. Over 200 guests and employees of the hotel were asked to vacate the building.

The fire did not lead to any casualty, one person who inhaled thick smoke had to be hospitalised. He was discharged later. It took seven fire tenders more than an hour to control the fire. Three more hours were required to clear the smoke.

According to fire personnel, a hotel employee called the control room at 11.04 am, alerting them about the fire. Two fire tenders were rushed from the High Grounds fire station. More were called in later.

There was tension when more than 200 people came out of the hotel on to the Residency Road footpath. Senior officials of the police and fire services supervised the operations.

M N Reddi, DGP (Fire and Emergency Services), said it was tough for the fire fighters to reach the spot of the fire due to thick smoke.

The fire fighters used suction machines to clear the smoke and eventually put out the fire. Reddi said it was very early to say what caused the fire. An investigation will ascertain the cause and if there were any lapses on the hotel’s part. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil, more than 200 people were in the hotel at that time for a meeting.

“Preliminary inquiry indicated electric short circuit as the cause for the fire,” regional fire officer T V Shivashankar said.

About 20 rooms have been constructed at the basement for the accommodation of the staff. There is a rest room as well. The fire was spotted at the basement at around 10 am. But staff inside the kitchen noticed the fire, raised an alarm and rushed outside. Within no time, fire and smoke engulfed the entire basement, destroying furniture, he said.

The operation lasted for about 10 hours. About 20 staff, including DIG (Fire and Emergency Services) Revanna, fell ill due to suffocation.

About 50% of the parking space has been used to construct rooms. We want to ascertain if the management violated the National Building Code, he added.