CHENNAI: A major fire broke out on the second floor of the seven-storey BSNL telephone exchange building on Anna Salai on Saturday, disrupting telecommunication services and affecting emergency helplines.
While no casualties were reported, the incident hit communication and online services to the police control room (100), ambulance service (108) and Tangedco’s online payment portals, within a 2-km radius.
A BSNL spokesperson said that the fire incident impacted mobile voice and data services in Chennai, the rest of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and affected calls to other operators and emergency services. Voice and data services in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and the rest of Tamil Nadu have been restored, while services in Chennai have been partially restored and further work is under way, the spokesperson added.
Services to the DGP’s office, the Greater Chennai police commissioner’s office and the Tangedco head office were also impacted, sources said.
Metro water tankers pressed into service to put out blaze
However, emergency services were immediately restored while work is on to fix other affected services, said BSNL officials. According to official sources, the building houses key divisions, including the landline and SIM card distribution headquarters, marketing, account and billing sections.
The incident came to light around 9.30 am when employees arriving for work noticed thick black smoke billowing from the building and alerted the fire and rescue services. The Chintadripet police and forensic experts have initiated a probe to determine if an electrical short circuit or battery explosion triggered the accident. Sources said the flames were brought under control by 12.30 pm.
However, the in-house fire safety equipment could not be utilised due to operational difficulties and authorities had to depend on Metro Water tankers to put out the fire, sources added. At least 13 fire tenders, including 150 firefighters from Egmore, Vepery, Kilpauk and Triplicane, were pressed into service. Officials noted that while the fire was largely contained to the second floor, smoke spread to the third, fourth and fifth floors, which were under renovation.