|
A portion of a building called Fireproof Spirit within the Indian Museum complex went up in flames on Monday night, threatening to destroy an entire collection of maps and research documents belonging to the Anthropological Survey of India.
The fire on the fourth floor of the G+5 building (pictures above by Pabitra Das), a five-minute walk from Stephen Court, was spotted around 9pm by the guards.
Fire-tenders, including a 50-metre skylift, arrived from the Free School Street fire brigade headquarters within minutes, but a row of trees next to a pond in the complex ostensibly delayed the operation.
Fire brigade officials said they had difficulty reaching the fourth floor, forcing them to focus on fighting the flames from outside.
According to a Zoological Survey of India official, the building has a system where the doors of any fire-affected portion close on their own to prevent the flames from spreading. “All the doors are made of thick steel and have a wedge attached to them. When the wedge catches fire, it collapses, causing the doors to clamp shut and prevent the flames from spreading. In any case, our office was closed when the fire started; so the doors were already shut. That gives us hope that the fire hasn’t spread much,” said Abhik Dey, 55, an employee of the Anthropological Survey of India.
Firemen, however, said they were finding it difficult to open the heavy doors from outside and spray water. There was no danger to the Indian Museum, a couple of blocks away, an official said.
The six-storey Fireproof Spirit Building at 27 JL Nehru Road houses the anthropological survey on the third and fourth floors. The Zoological Survey of India occupies the first two floors and shares the fifth.
The building’s foundation was laid in 1958 by President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. It has a pond on one side and Asutosh Hall on the other.
Some employees — around 60 of them had gathered — said there was a blast in an AC before the fire broke out.
The fourth floor houses the electronic data processing section, cultural anthropological section, scientific officers’ enclave and the digital cartography section, said D.N. Pande, the head of office of the anthropological survey.
The floor has large halls that are divided into sections. Pande said the damage caused was “not irreparable”, though the flames had not been put out until well past midnight.
|
