Raging inferno: Life-saving drugs perish in WHO warehouse fire

Essential medicines worth at least $2 million gutted; fire takes over eight hours to put out; cause still unconfirmed.

ISLAMABAD:

More than half of the much-needed essential medicines stocked at a World Health Organisation (WHO) warehouse in the industrial area of the federal capital is feared to have been destroyed in fire reportedly caused by short circuit on Friday. The police said the fire could not be put out till late in the afternoon.

One of the four WHO warehouses located in Street 1 of sector I-9/3 caught fire, purportedly due to a short circuit on Thursday night, which gradually spread through the whole building before it was noticed by the security staff outside.

Police suspected that one of the newly repaired air-conditioning systems might have caused the short circuit. However, the exact cause of the fire could not be ascertained as smoke and heat levels in the building were too high for investigators to safely enter.

More than half a dozen Capital Development Authority fire and rescue vehicles, Fire Brigade vehicles from Rawalpindi and Rescue 1122 vehicles along with police officials rushed to the site and participated in the firefighting effort.

It took firefighters over eight hours to completely put out the fire. “It became more difficult because the medicines inside served as added fuel,” said one firefighter. At the time this report was filed, efforts were still underway to cool down the structure the building to allow rescuers and the police to enter.

Police suspected that the warehouse, which is built on two plots, was completely burnt and expressed doubt that anything inside could have remained untouched by the raging inferno.

WHO Representative Dr Guido Sabatinalli hoped that at least half of the total $4 million drug supply was safe. “There are places in the warehouse which were apparently not touched by the fire, and we hope that at least half of the medicine remained safe, but we cannot be certain at this point in time,” said Dr Sabatinalli.

Witnesses said that the fire was “huge” and the flames could be seen from great distances.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the WHO representative said that the, “Involvement of external hands in causing the fire could not be ruled out but no such evidence has been found as yet.” He said the police could not determine an exact cause until it was safe for them to enter the building.

He said the warehouse was one of 12 WHO warehouses in Pakistan where essential drugs are stocked in preparation for an emergency response to catastrophic events such as floods, earthquakes or any other calamity.

He said the staff present at the warehouse were not equipped or trained to fight fires, therefore they required help of the fire brigade. The security staff reported the fire at around 10 am and fire fighting vehicles reached the scene within minutes, police said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2011.