A fire engulfed two hotels and a wood carving centre on Deveni Rajasinghe Mawatha, Kandy, around two in the morning yesterday.
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| The fire brigade was reportedly slow in its reponse |
The Kandy Municipal Fire Brigade, allegedly, was slow in responding to the call, arriving an hour after the fire broke out, by which time the affected buildings were badly gutted.
It s learnt that the Emergency Police ‘119’ was called at the outbreak of the fire, which promptly informed the Fire Brigade, but to no avail.
According to the hotel owner Mr Sanjeewa and the people of the area, the Fire Brigade arrived an hour after the fire broke out, with water only for the first round.
Then the fire engine had to return to get water, while all the time, a water hydrant was just a few meters away. On the other hand, the water treatment plant of the Kandy Municipality was close by, where there is always 1,000 gallons of water in a bowser for any emergency, according to officials at the water treatment plant. But this was not used.
After nearly an hour four more engines arrived, but, by that time, the fire had spread and brought down most of the hotel building, except the front.
Mr Sanjeewa told the Sunday Times that he had to personally go to the Fire Brigade station to call them.
The damage to the hotel complex is estimated at Rs 300 million.
Inspector W.D. Subasinghe of the Kandy Multi-offences Branch conducting investigations, said that the cause of the fire is yet unknown.
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