Johannesburg, 25 Jul 2005
Metrofile has still not received a final report on the cause of a fire that swept through a warehouse at its Westmead storage facility in March.
One of the three retention centres on the site caught fire on the night of 18 March. The blaze destroyed all the containers and documents in the warehouse.
Once the fire stopped smouldering almost four weeks later, Metrofile employed the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to investigate.
Although the group said at the end of May that it expected a report within three weeks, it has not yet received any such report.
"This is not unusual," Metrofile says in a statement. "These investigations are very thorough and usually take a long time before the results become known.
"We are not in control of this process, so we cannot say when the report will be received, but we will continue to push for a final report." It adds that it was hoped that a final report would have been received by now.
The group says while it will take additional precautions and make the investments to prevent another fire at any of its facilities, it depends on the CSIR`s report to do so.
However, it has already taken several steps in the meantime, including boosting night-time security, installing a comprehensive camera surveillance system, and improved access control.
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Metrofile awaits report on blaze
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