Accident?: Excise and Taxation Office fire destroys records

Only ‘unimportant’ records lost, claims ETO.

RAWALPINDI:

A fire engulfed the Excise and Taxation Office’s Motor Registration branch on Tuesday, completely gutting the record room.

According to reports, the fire broke out in the record room, located on the third floor, when petrol leaking from the generator’s fuel tank, placed outside the room, caught fire.

An official saw smoke coming out of the store room and immediately alerted his colleagues to vacate the building. The fire spread to the adjacent rooms including the record room.

Rescue workers and fire brigade vehicles rushed to the site and began controlling the fire. Dense smoke from the blaze engulfed the whole building, creating difficulties for rescue workers to search the building and evacuate the employees.



Fire extinguishing vehicles from Bahria Town, a private housing society, also took part in the rescue work and after around an hour of hectic efforts, the fire was extinguished.

Rescue workers said 60 per cent of the records were burnt while the rest were water damaged when the fire was being put out.

“We evacuated all the employees in time and made sure no one was left inside,” said a rescue worker, saying their swift response
ensured the fire did not spread to other parts of the building.

Talking to the press, the Excise and Taxation officer said the records kept in the store room were old and not that important, adding that the important ones have been preserved.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2013.