Fire breaks out at software firm on Residency Road

Fire breaks out at software firm on Residency Road

The Hindu

Computers, furniture destroyed; short-circuit suspected to be cause

BANGALORE: Fire broke out on the premises of a software company and destroyed some of its computers, servers, and furniture on Residency Road on Tuesday morning.

According to fire and emergency services personnel, the fire broke out in the conference hall of Pivotal Software on the mezzanine floor of Prestige Towers around 9.50 a.m. Alert security personnel of the building sounded the emergency alarm and called the fire services.

Then they asked all the people in the building to vacate the premises. The complex houses offices of IBM and ABN Amro Bank.

Before the fire services personnel arrived, the security personnel broke some glass panes of the floor to let out the smoke.

Five fire tenders rushed to the spot. They broke the remaining portion of the glass panes. Some fire force personnel entered the floor wearing breathing apparatus. By using exhaust fans they cleared the smoke emanating from the burnt false ceiling. The fire was completely put out by 11.30 a.m.

The Fire Department said that that the fire was caused by electric short circuit.

About 20 computers, four servers, false ceiling, and 10 glass facade portions of the floor were destroyed.

What made the task of the fire force personnel easier was the crisis preparedness of the occupants. The residents of the complex, which has adequate fire security systems, practise mock fire drills every week. "This drill was put to use on Tuesday. On hearing the emergency alarm, all the employees on the southern part of Prestige Towers, where the fire started, came out of the building. No one was e caught inside," a fire officer involved in the putting off the fire said.

Fire at ATM

Alert employees of a petrol station adjacent to Capitol Hotel put off a fire in the ATM counter of State Bank of India on their premises.

According to police, a person, who entered the ATM counter noticed fire in a corner of the counter. He immediately informed the workers in the petrol station who used sand and chemicals to put out the fire, before fire tenders could arrive. Electrical short circuit has been cited as the reason for the fire.

Paper rolls gutted

Rolls of paper kept in a godown of a bookbinding unit in Hosaguddadahalli were gutted on Tuesday night. The fire broke out because of electrical short circuit.