Fire razed down a section of Eastern Equatoria State secretariat offices destroying property and historical documents, the governor’s press secretary said.
The fire, which started at about 7:00 am Wednesday, burnt down important documents in Governor Louis Lobong’s office.
According to the state authorities, there were no casualties reported in the incident.
Investigations have since been launched to establish the cause of the blaze, according to the state government.
“This morning at around 7: 05 am when people were cleaning the offices. The fire broke out at the general secretariat in Torit, destroying some offices. The fire started at the power room inside the building and unfortunately, this is where all the files of Eastern Equatoria are kept, particularly those from 1994 to 2019,” said Aliandro Lotok, the press secretary of the state governor.
He added, “All these files have been completely destroyed by the fire. Part of the offices got burned and the rest of the offices were rescued.”
According to the press secretary, the governor will not be working from the state secretariat until the renovation is completed.
Meanwhile, State Civil Defense Director John Tomilian Daniel said it was hard to contain the fire due to the lack of proper firefighting equipment in the main office.
“At the moment we don’t have firefighting trucks. We want to use these fire extinguishers to be fixed in places, especially in our offices, government institutions, private institutions, market places and clinics,” he said.
Wodcan Savior Lazarous, a civil society activist in the state, urges the state government to put in place safety measures in important offices.
“How were these important files kept in offices? They were supposed to have backup files because we are now in a world of technology,” he said.