Blaze in commercial tax office building, many files gutted
LUCKNOW: Thousands of important files were gutted when a big fire broke out in the multi-storey building of commercial tax office in Narhi at around 9.40 am on Wednesday. Nearly 40 fire fighters extinguished the blaze after an eight-hour-long effort but the salvage operation was on till late evening. Fortunately, there were no employees in the building as the office opens at 10.00am.
The fire broke out on the fifth floor of the building. A security guard Ram Bahadur first spotted the flames when he went up on seeing smoke coming out of the windows. He alerted additional commercial tax commissioner KK Upadhyaya, who informed the fire services .
Entry to the fifth floor was completely blocked due to intense smoke that delayed the firefighting efforts for around one hour. The work remained suspended at the office where nearly 400 employees and officials remain present on a normal working day.
Chief fire officer (CFO), AB Pandey said the fire services control room received a call at around 9.40am after which two fire tenders from Hazratganj were rushed to the spot. Eight more fire tenders were called from other stations.
He said the entire C Block on fifth floor was engulfed in flames. Details collected from commercial tax officials suggested that the block comprised three sections with at least 150 almirahs and racks that contained over 10,000 files.
“The entire block has been damaged and everything was reduced to ashes by the time the fire fighters doused the flames. The embers are still emitting sparks and it will take more time to completely extinguish them,” said the CFO. He said the cause of fire had not been ascertained so far and a detailed probe would be conducted. The building lacked basic fire prevention measures and a report would be sent to the authorities concerned, he said.