Fire destroys two rooms in DCW building

A fire gutted two rooms at the office of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) building in central Delhi’s ITO on Tuesday evening, the fire department said.

While no one was hurt in the blaze, several files were gutted and property destroyed in the blaze, DCW chief Swati Maliwal tweeted.

According to Atul Garg, chief fire officer (Delhi Fire Services), a call was received at 6.15pm informing them about the balze. “The fire apparently was caused by a spark in the air-conditioner in a conference room,” said Garg.

The officer said that the traffic jam at ITO at that hour delayed the arrival of fire tenders by nearly 15 minutes. “That delay caused much of the damage. Once we reached, we were able to douse the flames in less than 30 minutes,” said Garg, adding that 10 fire tenders were dispatched to control the fire.

The officer said that since office hours were over by then, there were few people in the building. “Theemployees had left before the fire was noticed. It spread and destroyed the conference room and one other room,” said Garg.

DCW chief Maiwal said that she and her team stayed at the spot and braved dense smoke to ensure no one was hurt. “We are thankful to the fire department and the police for rushing to our help. Had they not controlled the blaze, the entire building could have burned down,” she said.

Garg said that since it is a low-rise building, it does not require a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the fire department.