One of the damaged rooms at Writers’ Buildings. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhayaya

A blaze at Writers’ Buildings on Thursday morning ravaged the third floor of a block that houses the fire services department and is just a five-minute walk from where Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee runs Bengal.

Files and office property were damaged but there were no casualties or injuries to anybody in the incident, which fire minister Pratim Chatterjee described as the “biggest fire” in the history of Writers’ Buildings. “There were fires in the past but only small ones,” he said.

Twelve fire engines fought the flames, noticed first by a member of the estate department around 6.35am.

By the time the babus started trooping in, the blaze had been tamed. No minister or official would comment on the possible causes of the fire, which reduced to ashes or partially burned thousands of files.

The official list of damaged items includes two carrom boards, a photocopier, around 50 computers, 30 fans and 15 tables.

Constructed between 1960 and 1970, the E Block also houses the municipal affairs and refugee rehabilitation departments on the third floor.

Ratan Jaiswal, the estate department employee who spotted the fire, said he was walking down the corridor when he saw smoke coming out of the windows. “I immediately alerted my seniors, who informed the Lalbazar control room.”

That was at 6.45am. Led by a station officer, five fire tenders reached Writers’ Buildings at 6.50am. The blaze was extinguished by 8.10am.

The chief minister, the fire minister, PWD minister Kshiti Goswami and home secretary Ashok Mohan Chakravarti arrived a little later and took stock of the damage. “A forensic team has collected samples and will submit a report by Saturday. An FIR has been lodged at Hare Street police station,” Chakravarti said.

The fire remained the topic of discussion among Writers’ staff for the rest of the day. “The majority of our files, including service books, were in the damaged rooms. Records of leave, service tenures and loans taken by employees have all been lost. Some of these files were 25 years old,” a fire services official said.

More than 6,500 people work in that building. The average visitor count is 2,000 a day.

Some employees said the fire was waiting to happen. “There is no maintenance. We do not remember the last time a fire drill was carried out in the building. The fire department books other people for negligence. What is the fire minister going to do now?” asked an official of the information and cultural department.

Chatterjee said in the evening that an eight-member committee had been constituted to investigate the incident. “The committee will submit its report within a fortnight. It will be chaired by the principal secretary of fire services, P.S. Kathiresan,” the fire minister said.