A major fire incident was averted at the State Secretariat due to the timely intervention of the fire brigade personnel on Saturday.
However, an air-conditioner and a number of files, computers and furniture and a Godrej almirah were damaged in the fire that broke out at around 1.15 pm in the chamber of Additional Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department Basanta Kumar Behera in the ground floor of the Secretariat.
No one was injured in the fire that was limited to only one room being officiated by Behera, said the Fire Prevention Office sources, adding that a short circuit in the air-conditioner in the chamber was the cause of the fire.
This is the second fire incident that broke out in the Rajiv Bhavan, the extended State Secretariat, after the April 28 incident in which properties worth lakhs of rupees in the Conference Hall had been destroyed.
Sources said that the report relating to the damage in Saturday’s fire has not been assessed and the Health Department authorities have been asked to give their report on the worth of the damaged assets.
As many as three fire tenders were deployed to douse the fire, which broke out at the time when Additional Secretary Behera was with the Principal Secretary of the department discussing official matters.
As smoke began emitting from the room and filled nearby places, Joint Secretary Padmanav Behera sounded a warning, and around one hundred employee working in the department by the time could manage to come out by opening the exit door and saved their lives. According to the employees, fire extinguishers were not installed in the office and the fire warning system was also not working due to the renovation of the department building. A number of fire extinguishers were seen laying in a locked room.
Meanwhile, the fire brigade officials said that there was a plan to have a dedicated Fire Station just outside the Secretariat to deal with fire mishaps. The proposal to have a Fire Station has not materialised for the last three years due to lack of site selection on the part of the Home Department, which is in charge of safety and security of the various departments.