20120421 India Computers damaged in Writers’ fire
India Apr 21 2012 “Building”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 0 or unknown Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Computers damaged in Writers’ fire
Updated: 2012-04-21-02:01
KOLKATA: A fire broke out at the information department of Writers’ Buildings on Friday morning and spread to the adjoining room of the news bureau. The blaze damaged typewriters, computers, official documents and furniture.
The PWD staff, however, managed to douse the flames even before the fire brigade personnel reached. The two rooms on the third floor have been locked and a forensic team will be collecting samples to ascertain the cause of fire. This is the second fire at Writers’ in two consecutive weeks. Last week, a room on the second floor had caught fire.
On Friday, the fire was first spotted on a computer table in a room adjoining the news bureau and it soon spread to the news bureau as well. A PWD staffer said that they had swept the room around 8.30am to make it ready for the staff. But there was no trace of fire at that time.
When the staff noticed the flames, they broke open the glass windows and sprayed water to douse the flames. “Before the firemen came, we managed to control the fire,” an employee said. PWD officials suspect the fire sparked from a computer’s UPS.
Disaster management minister Javed Khan later visited the information department and said that though five engines had arrived, the fire was brought under control with one engine. A probe has been initiated into the incident and the staff will be cautioned if it happened owing to their failure to switch off power points before leaving office, the minister added.
Javed Khan said that the secretariat will soon have a modern control room to tackle fires. There are also plans to install CCTVs in all rooms to keep a tab on fire incidents.
Umapada Chatterjee, director, information department, said that it will take a few days to remove the debris from the two rooms. The staff and officers, hence, cannot use the rooms.
Web Source: The Times of India