Brussels, 18/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - The "Berlaymont" building, the seat of the European Commission in Brussels, the workplace of 2700 people and home to the offices of its President, José Manuel Barroso, had to be completely evacuated at around 1.00 pm on Monday 18 May, as the result of a fire.
In a press release published at around 2.00pm the Commission said that "at around 1.00 pm (…), a fire broke out in the building (….). The fire alarms went off and the building was fully evacuated (...). The fire services are on site and are tackling the situation". The spokesperson to the fire services of the city of Brussels, Francis Boileau, told the press that there had been a fire in the roof which was brought under control shortly after 2.30pm, although the Commission stated that the fire was still not completely extinguished at around 4.00pm. The fire broke out in the upper floors of the building and most of the damage was limited to the technical control rooms on the 13th and 14th floors. Nobody was hurt, according to the fire services spokesperson, which has been confirmed by the Commission. In order to tackle the blaze, the fire services used fire hoses installed in the building. Several emergency services and fire services vehicles hurried to the scene. At around 4.00pm, the police were still preventing people from accessing a security perimeter which extended to the neighbouring streets. The fire services were still on site, to make sure that there was no risk that the fire could spread to lower floors through the service ducts. (O.L./transl.fl)