Historic Colombo Kachcheri destroyed by fire

By David Ebert

The Government Analyst Department was hard at work yesterday to determine the cause and true extent of damage to the iconic century old Colombo District Secretariat building on Dam Street, that was gutted by a fire that flared up at around 8 p.m. on Monday night. The blaze has reportedly destroyed a hitherto unclear quantity of vital public documentation and caused extensive structural damage to the building as well.

The Colombo fire brigade responding after being alerted by members of the public in the vicinity, had been forced to call in for assistance from the Army and Air Force fire fighting units as well, in order to cope with the blaze and prevent its spread to adjacent buildings. Firefighters had reportedly battled the blaze for over two hours; however a slight rain shower and ten bowsers full of water proved insufficient to prevent the total destruction of the files and documentation housed on the lower and upper floors of the secretariat.  The inferno, which according to eye witnesses, had apparently started on the second floor of the building had spread rapidly to the ground floor as well but had been contained with minor damages to the adjoining buildings.

Police media spokesman SSP Priyashantha Jayakody stated that the cause of the fire is yet to be determined and the Government Analyst Department’s electrical engineers were expected to begin an extensive investigation last morning while a special police team has been deployed to investigate the incident as well.

Jayakody stated that it was impossible to assess or comment further on the extent of the damage to the building or the loss of documentation at this stage until preliminary investigations are completed.