Fire destroys offices in Pta
2003-03-09 19:40
Pretoria - A fire destroyed several offices on the sixth floor of the Woltemade building at the corner of Proes and Paul Kruger Streets in Pretoria on Sunday morning.
A fire department spokesperson, Hans de Lange, said emergency services were called at 04:30 by security guards who reported smoke coming from the sixth floor of the seven-storey building which houses attorneys' and advocates' offices.
Firefighters from Pretoria Central, Innesdale and Philip Nel Park were soon at the scene and put out the blaze before it could spread to the rest of the building.
De Lange said the offices were unoccupied at the time and no one was injured but the damage was extensive and a number of valuable books - some dating back to the 1920s - as well as furniture, stationery and computers were destroyed.
The amount of damage was still being estimated but would probably be hundreds of thousands of rands, de Lange said.
The cause of the fire was still being investigated.
- SAPA