KUALA Lumpur Hospital’s Forensic Department building caught fire this afternoon.

It is believed that the fire started in a storeroom in the National Medical Forensics Institute but was contained quickly by the hospital’s fire team.

They managed to prevent the fire from spreading to the next building.

Hospital patients and staff were evacuated. No casualties were reported.

Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Department director Khairuddin Drahman said that the fire started at 12.30pm and the fire department managed to put out the fire about 1.20pm.

He said 31 firemen and four fire engines were deployed to the scene.

“We also have a Hazmat team at the scene as as we are dealing with biochemical items and lab equipments,” said Khairuddin.

He added that only two forensics department staff were there at the time of the incident. Both had to climb up the roof to avoid thick smoke and fire that had entered the second stage.

“There were emergency exits but the smoke was too thick so they went up the roof. The fire had already entered the second stage (sangat marak). It destroyed the store completely,” said Khairuddin

He added that only the storage at the building was fully destroyed while the rest was only slightly damaged by smoke and heat.

He said the fire was likely due to a short circuit.

“There were no other items in the store. There were only gloves, cottons,” he said.

19 corpses kept in mortuary to be moved

Some 19 bodies kept in the chillers of Kuala Lumpur Hospital mortuary might have to be moved to a nearby hospital as the power has been cut from the unit during the fire.

“The bodies need to be kept in cold storage and at the moment the freezer is not functioning.

“We may have to transfer the bodies to other locations if the power is not restored soon,” said Khairuddin.

He said it all depends on further assessment of the situation.

On the number of patients evacuated earlier, Khairuddin said he has no details but stressed that in any fire, all patients in all blocks of the hospital would be evacuated for safety purposes.

“The patients and visitors were moved to the assembly area,” said Khairuddin without giving the specific location. – March 17, 2018.