The office room gutted in fire on the ground floor of the secretariat. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, May 18: Over 100 employees working with the health and family welfare department in the secretariat had a close shave when a sudden fire broke out just before lunch time.

The fire engulfed property worth over Rs 1 lakh. It took three fire tenders around one hour to douse the fire and reduce the smoke level inside the building by breaking some windows.

The fire was caused because of the short circuit in an AC fitted in the office of additional secretary Basant Kumar Behera located on the ground floor of block seven in the secretariat around 1.10pm when Behera was not in his office. Other employees sensed danger when they saw smoke coming out of the office and ran for cover. Within no time, the smoke filled the entire office.

Personal assistant to health secretary Bighnaraj Pradhan, who was in the building, said they were not aware of the fire initially. “We thought someone is burning something outside. But when people from outside the building told us that smoke was coming out of this floor, we became cautious. We checked and found the AC in the additional secretary’s office was burning. The fire had caught the partitions made of plywood. We immediately ran out to save our lives,” said Pradhan.

The fire officials had to break the office window and spray water through the opening. “Our masked team sprayed water after getting inside the room,” said assistant fire officer Ramesha Chandra, who was leading a 17-member team.

The fire fighters took around one hour to completely douse the fire that had already caught the partition walls made of plywood and other documents. Along with the AC, some chairs, table, fan and a TV had also caught fire.

President of the Odisha Secretariat Service Association Chitta Ranjan Hota said that as there was a fire exit route in the building, the employees could save their lives. “Such kind of escape routes should be in all the blocks in the secretariat,” said Hota. Besides, he said the fire alarms fitted in the building did not work.

Fire prevention officer Manoranjan Bhol, who takes care of the fire safety arrangements of government buildings and high-rises, said the arrangements were being made in the secretariat for Rs 1 crore. “We have only fitted the alarms, but they are not fully functional. Besides, we have been instructing government organisations to have a central main switch, which can be shut down when the office is closed. They should also fix circuit breakers that will disconnect the electricity supply during over loading and over heating in electrical equipment,” said Bhol.