Fire breaks out at building housing DGHS office in Karkardooma

A fire broke out on the sixth floor of the Directorate General of Health Services's (DGHS) building housing office in east Delhi's Karkardooma area Friday, officials said.

However, no loss of life was reported in the incident.

The Fire Department received a call at 1.50 pm, following which 22 fire-tenders were rushed to the spot, they said.

"The fire broke out on the sixth floor of the building at around 1.25 pm. Beginning from one floor, it later spread to the seventh floor as well," a senior fire official said.

More than 60 fire personnel were deployed to douse the flames, which was brought under control by 5.05 pm. However, the cooling process continued till 5.45 pm, the official said.

"We received the call nearly around 1.50 pm that the sixth floor of the building caught fire. We evacuated people from the sixth and seventh floor of the building within two hours after it caught fire," he said.

Even before the fire brigade arrived, most of the staffers had rushed outside the building. While some of them were already outside the building as it was lunchtime, the rest of them were safely evacuated, the fire official said.

The cause of the fire and the extent of the damage due to it is being ascertained. However, offices, furniture, documents, records were destroyed in the fire, he said.

The fire detection system installed inside the building was active throughout but some of the fire sprinkler system were not actively functioning, the official added.

A senior Health Department official said, "We lost a few files in the fire. Our office (DGHS) is located on the fifth and the sixth floors of the building,"