8954555999
info@pcsa.in

New-age Fires: Fire Safety in ICUs and NICUs

02 Sep 2026

Tags: GS3   Disaster Management   Risk & Preparedness   Disaster response

Source: The Hindu

Context: India’s fire-safety risks have expanded beyond traditional sites such as industrial units, offices, mass gatherings, firecracker units and railway compartments to residential buildings, hotels and hospitals, particularly Intensive Care Units (ICUs).

  • Electrical fires have increasingly emerged as a major concern due to greater appliance use, overloaded electrical systems and inadequate maintenance.
  • ICUs are particularly vulnerable because of their oxygen-rich environment, dense electrical equipment and difficulty of evacuating critically ill patients.

Recent ICU/NICU Fire Incidents

  • Back-to-back fires in neonatal ICUs (NICUs) at Amravati, Maharashtra, and Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, resulted in injuries/deaths among highly vulnerable newborns.
  • At Amravati, the fire was extinguished within about 30 minutes, but smoke severely affected three babies admitted with complications; a faulty ventilator was suspected.
  • At Chhindwara District Hospital, a short circuit in a baby warmer triggered a fire, causing burns to three newborns.
  • Similar incidents have continued despite previous tragedies, including the 2024 Jhansi hospital fire, in which 18 newborns died, indicating inadequate institutional learning and enforcement.

Why ICUs/NICUs Are Uniquely Vulnerable

  • ICUs are often sealed or enclosed compartments, allowing smoke to accumulate rapidly and making evacuation difficult.
  • NICU patients, particularly newborns, cannot evacuate themselves, making dependence on trained hospital staff extremely high.
  • Oxygen-rich surroundings can intensify combustion, while the large number of electrical and electronic devices increases the potential for electrical faults.
  • Therefore, ICU fires require a distinct fire-safety and evacuation framework, rather than being treated like ordinary building fires.

Essential ICU/NICU Safety Measures

  • A well-designed ICU should ideally have three independent exits, with at least two enabling horizontal evacuation to a safer compartment on the same floor.
  • Critical safety infrastructure should include automatic sprinklers, independent power lines for major equipment, secure oxygen-cylinder bed supports and periodic fire drills.
  • Oxygen outlets should be positioned away from electrical sockets to reduce the risk of ignition.
  • In NICUs, where patients cannot self-evacuate, regular evacuation drills and clearly defined staff responsibilities are particularly important.

Recommended Institutional Measures

  • Following a Delhi NICU fire, the National Neonatology Forum (NNF) called for:
    • Mandatory fire-safety certification for hospitals with NICUs.
    • Regular electrical/power audits.
    • Analogue addressable fire alarms for more precise identification of the location of a fire.
    • A standardised evacuation protocol based on RACE — Rescue, Alarm, Confine, Extinguish/Evacuate.
  • The 2026 National Guidelines on Fire and Life Safety in Healthcare Facilities provide an important framework for improving fire and life safety in healthcare institutions.

Emerging Risk: Electrical Harmonics

  • Electrical harmonics are distortions in the normal sinusoidal electrical current produced by equipment containing electronic components.
  • NICUs contain numerous electronic devices that can generate such distorted currents, potentially causing silent overheating of neutral wiring, transformers and loose connections without necessarily triggering conventional circuit breakers.
  • Consequently, post-fire investigations that simply attribute incidents to a “short circuit” or “technical fault” may overlook underlying harmonic-related electrical degradation.
  • Regular power-quality and harmonic audits should therefore complement conventional electrical safety inspections.

Way Forward

  • Treat ICU/NICU fires as a distinct disaster-safety category requiring specialised infrastructure, evacuation protocols and trained personnel.
  • Strengthen enforcement of healthcare fire-safety standards through mandatory certification, periodic electrical audits and evacuation drills.
  • Move beyond post-incident explanations such as “short circuit” and investigate power quality, electrical harmonics and equipment maintenance as potential underlying risks.
  • Fire safety in hospitals must focus not only on fire suppression but also rapid evacuation of patients who cannot independently escape.

Prelims Question

Q1. Consider the following pairs:

Strategic-fuel infrastructureKey characteristic
1. Depleted oil and gas reservoirsLarge-volume underground gas storage
2. Salt cavernsRelatively rapid injection and withdrawal
3. LNG storage tanksStorage of gas in cryogenic liquid form
4. LPG pipelinesCreation of strategic LPG inventory

How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?

(a) Only one
(b) Only two
(c) Only three
(d) All four

Answer: (c)

Explanation: Pairs 1, 2 and 3 are correct. LPG pipelines improve transport and deliverability but do not themselves create strategic inventory.

Q2. Consider the following countries:

  1. Kazakhstan
  2. Uzbekistan
  3. Turkmenistan
  4. Tajikistan
  5. Kyrgyzstan

How many of the above are Central Asian republics that were part of the Soviet Union?

(a) Only three
(b) Only four
(c) All five
(d) Only two

Answer: (c)

Explanation: All five—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan—are the five sovereign Central Asian republics that emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Q3. With reference to fire safety in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs), consider the following statements:

  1. The presence of oxygen-enriched surroundings can increase the intensity of combustion.
  2. Horizontal evacuation can be particularly useful in healthcare facilities because critically ill patients may not be capable of independent movement.
  3. Electrical harmonics refer to distortions in electrical current that may contribute to overheating without necessarily causing conventional circuit breakers to trip.
  4. The RACE protocol is primarily a method for detecting electrical harmonics in critical-care facilities.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1, 2 and 3 only
(c) 2, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer: (b)

Explanation: RACE refers to Rescue, Alarm, Confine, Extinguish/Evacuate, an emergency fire-response sequence. Electrical harmonics are distortions in electrical waveforms that can contribute to overheating and equipment/wiring stress.

Q4. With reference to high-altitude floods in the Himalayas, consider the following statements:

  1. A Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) necessarily originates from the failure of a moraine-dammed glacial lake.
  2. An ice-rock avalanche can temporarily block a river and subsequently cause a sudden flood when the blockage is breached.
  3. Satellite-based monitoring can provide large-scale information on glaciers and glacial lakes, but ground verification remains important for assessing site-specific conditions.
  4. Western Disturbances are extratropical weather systems that can interact with Himalayan terrain and influence precipitation.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2, 3 and 4 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer: (b)

Explanation: GLOFs can result from several triggers, including glacier collapse, landslides and moraine/dam failure; hence statement 1 is too absolute. Ice-rock avalanches can cause temporary river blockage and subsequent outburst flooding.

Q5. With reference to India’s emerging subsea digital infrastructure, consider the following statements:

  1. A submarine cable landing station connects an undersea fibre-optic cable to terrestrial communication networks.
  2. Diversifying submarine cable landing points can improve the resilience of a country’s international digital connectivity.
  3. The establishment of a submarine cable landing station at a coastal location by itself eliminates the need for inland fibre connectivity.
  4. Visakhapatnam is emerging as an eastern alternative to India’s established subsea connectivity hubs such as Mumbai and Chennai.

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1, 2 and 4 only
(c) 2, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Answer: (b)

Explanation: Landing stations must be integrated with terrestrial fibre networks to distribute international traffic inland. Hence, a coastal landing point alone cannot ensure effective connectivity.

Q. Himalayan disasters are increasingly shaped by the interaction of climatic, cryospheric and geomorphological processes rather than by a single hazard. Discuss the challenges of managing Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) and other cascading hazards in the Himalayas. (15 marks, 250 words)

Approach

Introduction:

  • Define GLOFs/cascading Himalayan hazards and note the increasing vulnerability of the region.

Body:

  • Causes: Glacier retreat, glacial-lake expansion, ice-rock avalanches, landslides, extreme rainfall, river blockages.
  • Challenges: Difficult terrain; limited ground verification; uncertain prediction; weak last-mile warning; vulnerable settlements and infrastructure.
  • Measures: Satellite + ground monitoring, robust early-warning systems, community-based evacuation, hazard-zone mapping, climate-resilient infrastructure and strict land-use/construction regulations.

Conclusion:

  • Shift from post-disaster relief to anticipatory, risk-informed Himalayan development through science, community participation and regional cooperation.

Archive

More Links

Prelims Preparation Strategy UPSC Prelims Syllabus CSAT Prelims Strategy Mains Preparation Strategy UPSC Mains Syllabus Optional Subject Preparation Strategy Potential of Optional Subject List of Optional Subject UPSC Previous Year Papers Preparation Strategy for Mains