Fire scare at PHQ

THE police headquarters in Konedobu nearly went up in flame after a fire erupted from the ground floor of the three-storey building yesterday afternoon.
All staff and senior police officers left the building immediately through the main door amid thick smoke along the corridor of the ground floor.  
Vehicles that were parked in front of the car park near the building were moved while helpless staff and by-standers stood some distance away, watching smokes coming out of the building.
Supt Kabip Lamu, who was at the scene, said the fire started from the main power switch board that was attached to one of the offices on the ground floor.
He said there was a power failure earlier that day and the power eventually went off and few seconds later, thick smokes emerged from where the main power switch board was.
“We tried to use the fire extinguisher to put out the fire but we could not put it out as the flames rose to the roof of the room where the fire had started,” Supt Lamu said.
He added that a fire truck and PNG Power electricians immediately came to the rescue and managed to put out the fire.
He confirmed that no property had been damaged, adding that experts from PNG Power would carry out investigations into the fault and fix the fault before normal work proceed.