A janitor room in the House of Representatives wing of the National Assembly complex was on Thursday evening gutted by fire after office hours.
The fire broke out at Room 227 on the 2nd floor in the House of Representatives New Building wing.
It took the prompt response of the men of Fire Service stationed at the National Assembly Complex to avert what would have been a large-scale inferno.
The fire, which started at about 6:30pm, saw parliamentary workers and first responders making efforts to put it out.
Director of Information at the National Assembly, Mr Rawlings Agada, confirmed the fire incident in statement obtained by LEADERSHIP.
He said a staff of the Clerk to the House had raised the alarm when he saw the smoke and alerted fire service men, who arrived on time to put out the fire.
He added that the combined prompt efforts curtailed the fire to the affected room only and power supply to the wing was disconnected to enable a full assessment and investigations into the incident afterwhich normalcy will be restored.
“There was a fire incident this evening in one of the Janitors, located on the 2nd floor, Room 227 in the new-wing of the House of Representatives, suspected to have resulted from an electrical fault which was noticed by one of the Staff to the Clerk, House of Representatives, who promptly alerted the Federal Fire Service Unit stationed in the National Assembly Complex.
“Accordingly, the fire have be put out with assistance of staff on duty who immediately broke into the affected office and effectively deployed ztationed fire extinguishers on the floor before the arrival of the fire service officer.
“It is expected that after due assessment by the fire service and the Estate and Works Directorates, normalcy in the New-Wing, housing all principal officers of the House of Representatives and Honourable members offices, will be restored immediately.
“Management wish to commend the prompt response/actions by the first responders particularly, National Assembly staff and the Fire Service Unit in helping to curtain the fire outbreak,” Agada stated.
