A staff of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) claimed that she heard an explosion prior to the fire that broke out at its building in Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya today.

T Saraswati, 38, said she was on duty at the information counter in the lobby at that time.

“I heard an explosion from outside the building. I thought it was the construction work. (However,) I was proved wrong when the security personnel told me that the left side of the building was on fire,” she told Bernama at the scene.

Saraswati said the situation became chaotic when all the employees who had parked their cars near the affected area rushed to move their vehicles.

“Some of them could not do so due to the raging blaze... 40 percent of the building was engulfed in fire in less than 10 minutes,” she said.

The Selangor Fire and Rescue Department said it was alerted to the fire at 11.53am and the firefighters reached the scene at 11.58am.

A new white Perodua Myvi car was among the vehicles affected by the incident.

The 29-year-old owner who wanted to be identified only as Riduan said he attempted to move his three-month-old car but was stopped by other employees as the front of the vehicle was already ablaze.

“I was on the fourth floor when the incident occurred. I immediately rushed to get my car after being told (about the fire) by a security personnel but the front part was badly burnt by the time I got there.

“However, I am grateful that all the staff are safe,” he said.

Federal Highway user, Salehien Abdul Rahman, 25, said the fire could be seen from as far as three kilometres away.

“I was travelling towards the city centre from Shah Alam at that time. I could see the blaze from afar and the highway was congested as motorists were (busy) looking at the fire,” he said when met at the scene.

- Bernama