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Metrofile Arson?

Fire

 

On Friday the 11th of October a fire at Metrofile westmead was reported. The fire began after hours and raged for over 24hrs well into Saturday evening. Roger Jones the eThekwini Fire divisional commander said that the  “The fire is contained, but not extinguished,”. He said that this was not uncommon with a building this size and with this much flammable material in it. He also said” we are going to battle with it for the next four to five days”. Reporters mentioned that they could see large mounds of paper (documents) which were on fire. Fire fighers arrived on scene within an hour of the fire beginning. They were able to contain the fire to one of 3 warehouses on the site.

 

Second Fire in 6 years

Metrofile building KZN

The Metrofile facility in Westmead contained millions of documents from various Metrofile clients. Some of the clients who use the branch are SAPS, SASSA, Banks, the Department of Agriculture and insurance companies. In the past a ‘supposed’ fire (undocumented and unreported?) in the Gauteng area has been quoted as the reason why many banks are unable to produce original documents relating to consumers debts. This has meant that they are unable to prove they actually are owed money by certain consumers. This has become increasingly raised as consumers and Debt Counsellors begin to investigate reckless lending and securitisation matters.

MetroFIRE

This is seemingly the second fire at the facility in the last 6 years. It has been said that this fire has all the hallmarks of arson.  Experts are pointing to several factors such as the timing of the fire and the fact that the building has an extensive fire extinguishing and fire retardant system in place. They say an accidental fire is ‘unlikely’.

All is not lost

Not all documents at the facility are scanned and kept in a digital format as well but fortunately many are. Normally most vital bank documents are now backed up and copied electronically. For example, SA Homeloans who use the facility say they have electronic copies of those documents that were kept at the facility. Michelle Bovet ( SAHL marketing manager ) has said that all their ” title deeds and other critical documents are stored elsewhere”.