Bhopal Fire and Emergency Safety Guide

At about 8.45 pm on 8 November 2021, fire broke out in the general ward and the neonatal intensive care ward of the Kamla Nehru children's hospital. Of the 40 infants in the affected wards, 36 were brought out and four died. A short circuit was the first view given, and a parent said sparks had been seen about two hours earlier. The Chief Minister ordered a high-level probe and asked for a fire safety audit report on government and private hospitals.

On the night of 2-3 December 1984, about 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate and its reaction products escaped from the Union Carbide pesticide plant. Of the city's roughly 8.3 lakh people, about 5.2 lakh were exposed, and about 2,000 died in the first three days. Later estimates of the total toll are far higher and differ widely. The lesson that still holds is to know what a gas leak smells like, to move across the wind and away from the source, and to call 112 early.

In the early hours of 13 September 2019, two boats capsized at Khatlapura Ghat on the Lower Lake during Ganesh idol immersion and 11 people drowned. The Collector banned boats at the ghat afterwards. On 14 September another boat capsized there with three Corporation workers on board; they were rescued, but none of them wore a life jacket.

On 22 August 2022, 16.5 cm of rain fell in Bhopal between 6 am and 8 pm. About 200 colonies were waterlogged, 18 families trapped at Bawadia Kalan were rescued, more than 200 trees came down and one person died when a tree fell. Seven gates of Kaliasot Dam, five of Bhadbhada and the gates of Kerwa Dam were opened, and the Bhopal-Berasia Road was closed when the Halali river swelled.

At about 3.30 am on 12 June 2026, a shop and warehouse near a petrol pump on Bairagarh Road in Halalpur caught fire, and the stock exploded again and again. Ten fire tenders worked for more than three hours; nobody was hurt, the cause was not known, and the road was barricaded and power cut in the sector. Afterwards the fire NOCs of the shops were cancelled and the administration ordered the market moved to a less crowded site, but traders obtained a High Court stay. As of 11 October 2026 the market had not moved.

On the afternoon of 12 June 2023, fire began on the third floor of Satpura Bhawan, the six-storey building that houses many state government offices, and spread upwards. The building was emptied in time and nobody died, but about 22 fire tenders were needed and it took roughly 15 hours to put the fire out. A short circuit was the first finding. On 6 January 2026, a 77-year-old resident of a Misrod housing society stepped into a lift opening where the car was missing and fell down the shaft; his body was found on 16 January.