Another fire at old EPF building in PJ

The former Employees Provident Fund (EPF) building along Jalan Gasing in Petaling Jaya has caught fire again, some five years after another blaze destroyed about 40% of it in an incident attributed to the flammable cladding panels on its exterior. 

Video clips circulating on social media show thick black smoke billowing from the building with flames also visible from kilometres away. 

Selangor Fire and Rescue Department assistant director of operations Hafisham Mohd Noor said no casualties were reported.

He said an emergency call was received at 10.39am, and that firemen reached the location about six minutes later. 

"The fire affected only the fourth and fifth floors of the building. We brought the blaze under control at 11.08am," he told reporters, adding that the cause of the fire remains under investigation. 

The first fire at the building occurred in February 2018. 

The fire and rescue department said then that the cladding panels on the building's exterior did not meet safety requirements. 

It said the fire began outside where maintenance work was being done, and was the first in the country to involve inflammable cladding.