Firemen wage two-hour battle to douse fire at Kollupitiya

By Vanessa Sridharan

Fire fighters battled for two hours to bring under control a fire that broke out around 7 p.m. yesterday, at the Maturata Plantations Ltd office located in the Methodist central building in Kollupitiya, police said. The office situated on the second floor adjoins the Methodist church office, H.T. Accounting and Grey advertising.

The fire was spotted by members of the church youth band who were practising in the premises. They had alerted the Kollupitiya police. “The origin of the fire is yet to be determined, but we believe that the electrical wiring might have got wet due to the heavy rain triggering off a short. Since all the doors had been bolted in the office we had to break open a window to control the fire,” Fire Brigade officer J.W.A.M Rajakaruna said.

He said no one was injured by the fire, but a fireman cut his arm badly when breaking the window pane.