Several buildings destroyed in Delkanda fire

Sandasen MARASINGHE

A massive fire broke out in Delkanda around midnight on Tuesday engulfing a row of buildings before it was doused by the Kotte Fire Brigade, preventing a four storey building from being burnt down.

A spokesperson for the Fire Brigade said that eight fire engines and 30 fire fighters were used to extinguish the fire. The fire fighters took almost two hours to control the fire. He said that three shops, two of them located in second and third storey buildings in Delkanda, were engulfed by the fire within minutes.

The Kotte Fire Brigade assisted by the Dehiwala and Colombo Fire Brigades arrived at the scene within 10 minutes of the fire.

The buildings housed motor spare parts shops and the contents of the shops were completely destroyed by the fire. The damage is yet to be assessed. "If the Fire Brigade delayed by another few more minutes, the adjoining four storey building too would have been caught up in the flames," the spokesperson said.