The preliminary report of the incident of fire in Centaurus has been prepared, sources within the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration have confirmed to ProPakistani.
According to the report prepared by a 7-member fact-finding committee led by Additional District Magistrate, the fire broke out in a restaurant located in the food court of Centaurus and it spread rapidly due to the presence of cooking oil and other incendiary material in its store.
The preliminary investigation has found that there was no proper lighting at the place of the emergency exit of the shopping mall. A Bronto fire truck was initially used to extinguish the fire from a height of 200 feet.
Firefighters faced extreme difficulties in extinguishing the fire beyond the 17th floor. The top floor of the mall had glass windows but no proper ventilation. Due to this, the smoke gathered inside and the temperature of the building increased.
The report states that the fire brigade department of Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) has a shortage of human resources. Besides determining the source of the fire, the committee has also made some recommendations to prevent such incidents in the future.
It has recommended installing modern devices like fire smoking alarms in the mall and arranging ventilation on the top floor. The report will be finalized soon and will be submitted to the Interior Ministry for more action.
