A major accident was averted after a fire which broke out at basement of Punjab National Bank (PNB) branch in Zone II under MP Nagar police station area in the morning on Friday, was pacified immediately. A UPS caught fire in the morning which had soon spread in the basement. Documents at the basement were damaged in the fire. It was record room which was affected by the fire as the UPS was installed in the record room at the basement.
The basement which should be ideally used for parking according to the building permission provided by the BMC was being used in commercial activities and was rented to the bank for operating business. In the incident, no one was injured and all the staff and customers at the branch were evacuated safely. Smoke was spotted on Friday morning when a sanitation worker reached the branch to open it and when he opened the shutters of the main gate.
The worker found thick smoke and immediately informed the bank manager and subsequently informed the fire brigade.
On the receipt of the information four fire tender vehicles were rushed to the spot and pacified the fire. The fire tenders find it hard to pacify the fire as thick smoke engulfed the basement.
Important records were gutted in fire but the exact loss could be ascertained and would be provided by the bank later.
In the incident, safety measures were seen flouted as no adequate arrangements were made to tackle emergency situation.