20130518 India AC short-circuit causes fire at state secretariat
India May 17 2013 “Building” “Office bldg.”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
AC short-circuit causes fire at state secretariat
Updated: 2013-05-19-01:46
BHUBANESWAR: Panic struck the corridors of power after a fire broke out in a ground floor room of the state secretariat due to short-circuit in an air-conditioner here on Saturday. Employees of the health department ran for cover after noticing flames coming out of their block around 1 pm. Three fire tenders struggled for around an hour to douse the flames.
Sources said the fire originated from the chamber of additional health secretary Basant Behera. Confirming the same, health secretary P K Mohapatra said nobody suffered any injury and no important official file or document was damaged. “The fire was noticed in the office room of Behera. I was greatly relieved that no one was harmed and no official file was destroyed. Some furniture was gutted though,” said Mohapatra, adding normalcy has returned to the department’s functioning.
Neither Behera nor any of his office staff were in his room during the mishap. He was in the chamber of the health secretary, a few rooms away on the same floor, to discuss some official matters, sources said.
Some employees noticed smoke emanating from Behera’s chamber and informed the firemen, said sources. “It was around 1.10 pm. A big hall and at least two rooms on the floor were filled with smoke. To ensure that nobody was trapped, two of our men entered the building armed with breathing apparatus for rescue operation. Luckily, there was nobody inside,” said assistant fire officer Ramesh Majhi.
Three fire tenders took around an hour to douse the fire, said Majhi. “Since access from the front was difficult because of the smoke, we approached the building from the back. A major mishap was avoided,” he said, attributing the inferno to short-circuit in the AC from preliminary findings.
On April 27, a fire broke out in Rajiv Bhawan, an extension of the secretariat building housing several important government departments. This too was caused by a short-circuit in an air-conditioner.
Websource:The Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/AC-short-circuit-causes-fire-at-state-secretariat/articleshow/20128633.cms
Date:2013-05-19
Country:India