The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Major fire averted in Egmore office complex

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Wednesday, Jul 16, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Major fire averted in Egmore office complex

Staff Reporter

The ONGC office is located on fifth floor of the CMDA Tower-II

— Photo: M.Vedhan

Damage evaluation: Firemen assessing the extent of damage in a fire that broke out in the ONGC office on the fifth floor of CMDA Tower-II, Egmore, on Tuesday.

CHENNAI: A major fire accident was averted in the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) office located on the fifth floor of the CMDA Tower-II, Egmore, on Tuesday.

Fire broke out in a room of the regional computer centre of Geophysical Services of the ONGC around 7 p.m. after all the officials had left . The automatic sprinkler system of the office was activated. “The sprinkler system is set to spray water when the temperature of the office touches 69 degree Celsius,” said M.Balamurugan, AEE (Electrical) of CMDA.

“The fire may be due to a short circuit. Computer system, if not closed properly, could also cause a fire accident,” he added.

“The sprinkler system inbuilt in the building by the CMDA worked well to avert a major accident. However the fire department too were quick to act and finally put out the fire,” said the Member Secretary of CMDA M.R.Mohan.

According to Divisional Fire Officer, S. Veeramani, the Fire and Rescue Services, received information around 7 p.m. that thick smoke was billowing out of the window on the fifth floor of the building. Five fire tenders and a skylift were pressed into service.

A fireman Ganesh Kumar suffered injury and was admitted to a nearby hospital. The smoke emanated from a computer and UPS that caught fire. The fire was extinguished in less than an hour. The exact cause of fire is under investigation, police said.

According to eyewitnesses, following the fire the power supply to the building was cut off, which made the task of identifying the source of fire difficult. The thick smoke compounded the problem in the absence of emergency lights.

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