Fire at Police Hqrs:
Curtain raiser to inadequacies
Crime Sunday by Jayampathy Jayasinghe
It was a miracle that several thousand policemen and civilian staff
employed at Police Headquarters escaped unhurt despite a massive fire which
broke out on the third floor engulfing Police Headquarters on Wednesday
morning.
The fire was reported around 10.05 a.m. and soon afterwards the emergency
alarm bell was sounded to evacuate the staff. Plumes of black smoke was seen
billowing into the sky on Wednesday morning.
Soon after the fire was reported several fire engines of the Colombo Fire
Department, the Air Force Fire Department, and the Colombo Port rushed to
Police Headquarters to battle the fire. Luckily for the fire fighters water
was available from a nearby large sump at Police Headquarters besides
several hydrants at Church Street Colombo.
It took around nearly two hours for fire fighters to extinguish the fire
completely. As the fire raged on the third floor, several fire fighters had
to be lifted by crane to the third floor to battle the fire. Several glass
panels had to smashed to pump a huge quantity of water to douse the fire.
The escape
It was reported that only a panic stricken junior officer had sustained
an injury on her leg while running down the flight of steps to escape the
fire. All others were safely evacuated from the 5th floor of the building
down the flight of steps running through the building to the ground floor.
Apparently this was the first major fire that broke out at the new Police
Headquarters building at Church Street, Colombo, which was constructed
somewhere in the early eighties.
Building in dilapidated condition
The old Police Headquarters building which lies adjacent to the new
building is also in a dilapidated condition.
The plan to build a high-rise building in the same spot several years ago
was not permitted by the Archaeological Department keen to preserve old
buildings, a senior police officer said.
According to police sources there had been small fires on previous
occasions within the building which were contained before they could spread
to other areas.
Wednesday's fire had wreaked havoc on the building rendering the entire
telephone system and several computers malfunctioning. Although the initial
damage to the building has not been estimated, it is said to be in the range
of several millions of rupees.
Several cubicles on the third floor occupied by Senior Deputy Inspector
Generals (DIGs) have been completely gutted along with computers used to
store vital data.
Whether it was an accidental fire perhaps due to negligence on the part
of somebody, it is the taxpayers money that will be spent on repairing the
building.
Investigation: cause of fire
IGP Chandra Fernando promptly directed DIG (CID) Lionel Gunatilleke and
his team to conduct an investigation into the cause of fire. Meanwhile, the
Government Analyst A. Gunatilleke, also visited police headquarters to
ascertain the cause of fire.
According to reliable sources the fire had originated inside a senior
DIG's office due to an electrical short circuit. A curtain which was hung
close by was set ablaze and soon the fire spread to other areas in the room
as well.
Sources say
Policemen working on the third floor noticed smoke emanating from the
DIG's room around 10.05 a.m. However they could not get inside to douse the
fire as it was under lock and key. The officer concerned too probably would
have been out of the building when the fire broke out. Police sources said
that the raging fire rapidly spread to adjacent rooms suffocating them all
with noxious fumes.
It was the blinding black smoke that scared many policemen who escaped by
running down the staircase. The few policemen who remained to fight back the
fire found to their horror that the few fire extinguishing canisters
available on the third floor did not work. Worst of all some even did not
know how to operate them. So what they did was to throw the canisters into
the fire and run away.
It had been revealed that outdated fire extinguishing canisters were
placed at Police Headquarters which was woefully inadequate to fight a major
fire. An officer who wished to remain anonymous said that the few fire
extinguishers had not been serviced for a long period.
According to Fire Department sources the entire Police Headquarters
building was prone to a major fire. There was no sprinkler system installed
to douse a hazardous fire as in a high-rise building.
According to fire fighting specifications two fire fighting canisters
have to be placed every 200 square feet. There wasn't a special lighting
system in place when power was shut off to enable trapped people inside to
escape.
There wasn't a hose reel system in place where 30 litres of water could
be pumped in a minute. Above all there wern't trained policemen in fire
drill and evacuation methods. So it is pretty obvious that these factors had
contributed to a major fire.
What is shocking is that despite Fire Department attempts to review fire
plans at Police Headquarters, such plans have been shelved or swept under
the carpet. Surely somebody has to be accountable for such negligence for
bringing about a catastrophic situation. What we cannot understand is why
media personnel were debarred from inspecting the place.
Question about security
Meanwhile it is learnt that several senior police officers including the
IGP and several DIGs have already vacated police Headquarters and are housed
at different buildings elsewhere. This move is seen as detrimental to
security as maximum protection could not be afforded to them like at Police
Headquarters fortified with additional strength.
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