Kolkata: The Grade I heritage building at Lyon Range, located behind Writers’ Buildings and beside Calcutta Stock Exchange, remained shut for the second day after a blaze broke out in the multi-storey commercial building late on Sunday.Owners and employees of around 50 offices, operating out of the building, spent another anxious day, waiting for permission to resume work.Police and fire officers said a short circuit might have been the cause. “The fire department has not given clearance for forensic tests as the cooling process continued till late on Monday. We expect the process to be over by Wednesday,” said an officer, after the Hare Street Police Station OC and his team visited the spot on Tuesday. “We will keep all the entrances sealed until further inspection. Besides the fire department, a DMG team has been kept on standby.”Police recorded statements of some employees on Tuesday. At two owners of two firms, located on the third floor, where the fire started, said they had switched off the mains of their offices before leaving last Friday. “We really need to know the reason and source of the fire,” an employee of a computer hardware firm told TOI.Employees of around 15 offices on the third floor still waited to salvage whatever valuables that might still be intact. “We have not yet received clearance to access our office. We need to bring out at least basic equipment and files to restart operations,” said a trading firm employee.Fire department officers said densely stored computer equipment and packed cartons inside the offices fuelled the rapid spread of the fire and generated thick, suffocating, black smoke. The smoke severely affected emergency personnel trying to climb the stairwells, forcing firefighters to use an adjoining building to operate a hydraulic lift. While the main fire was brought under control by Monday noon, the cooling process continued.
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