On August 13, a fire broke out in the Yerevan Municipality's basement at 1/3 Buzand Street.

Sources told Hetq that the basement archive was damaged, though the municipality denies this.

The municipality said the partial fire and smoke were reported at about 6:05 p.m., after most employees had left the building.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) told Hetq that the 112-emergency center received the alarm at 6:20 p.m. Five rescue teams, one ladder truck, and about forty firefighters responded. The fire was contained at 8:25 p.m. and extinguished at 9:00 p.m., after roughly two and a half hours. Some 150 people were evacuated from the building.

What burned in the basement

According to the municipality, the fire burned down the storage area of ​​the Yerevan Project CJSC, which is a community property (60 square meters), where only broken computers and used household items were stored. The building assures that “there were no archival or other documents of any kind” in that area, and their archive is stored on the 8th floor.

However, the Urban Planning, Technical and Fire Safety (UTFS) Inspection Body told Hetq that according to information received from rescuers, there were folders and books at the scene of the fire.

No investigation or study was conducted

Both law enforcement agencies and the municipality refused to investigate the incident. The MIA reported that no investigation was conducted by police and no proceedings were initiated, since no complaint was received. 

The municipality attributed the fire to a power outage and noted: “There was no need to initiate an investigation, as no significant damage was caused to the administrative building or property.”

Unanswered Questions

Hetq sent twenty-one questions to the municipality, many of which went unanswered. The municipality preferred to release a general statement that did not clarify the following points.

• Have the archival documents been digitized and have backup copies?
• Have the archive’s fire safety, temperature, and humidity standards been maintained?
• When was the 1/3 Buzand building last inspected for fire safety, and by which agency?

UTSF claims it will investigate  

In an interview with Hetq, Elena Zohrabyan, head of the UTSF public relations department, said the 1/3 Buzand address was not included in the agency’s inspection schedule.

Under the criteria set by the relevant government resolution, state institutions are classified as low-risk facilities, unlike factories, gas stations, or shopping centers.

Zohrabyan said the municipality could have requested an investigation, but no application was submitted. The inspection body said it will conduct an inquiry at the address following the fire.

Thus, no state agency conducted an official investigation after the fire, which covered an area of ​​60 square meters and lasted 2.5 hours. The municipality puts forward the hypothesis of a “power outage” without a professional expert opinion, and information about the folders and books in the basement remains unclear.