The fire that broke out on a rooftop in Beirut on Tuesday caused damage to Alfa equipment installed there. But according to the affected building’s owner, the fire itself started because of Alfa’s alleged negligence.
Lawyer Kamil Maalouf, the owner of the Baouchrieh building that caught fire, said in a statement that the fire started “as a result of Alfa’s negligence in maintaining its rooftop equipment.”
This negligence led to diesel fuel leakage from the telecom company’s tanks, and the fuel leaked into the building’s electricity generator and law firm, Maalouf said.
“Eventually, the leakage led to a fire and an explosion in the law firm on the fifth floor as well as the roof, which caused severe damaged in the building.”
The lawyer continued to point out that Alfa no longer maintains its stations periodically and regularly, as it used to do, “despite the repeated contact made with it, and its notification of the fuel leak.”
Not only that but the telecom company did not even attend the site of the fire and “did not take any measures to ward off any danger to the building and its residents, and that part of the building is vulnerable to collapse due to the fire,” Maalouf added.
The lawyer’s statement came in response to Alfa’s post-fire statement, in which the company said that the incident had damaged its transmission station, forcing the suspension of service in the area that feeds from the affected station.
The company also stated that its technical teams were working to restore the service to its normal state as soon as possible, noting that it adheres to the globally-approved safety standards in regards to storing petroleum materials.
