The western wing of Munitoria burns down

The Munitoria building, a municipal building in Pretoria burned down in 1997. The fire spread though the building very quickly and was already out of control by the time fire fighters arrived. It took four days and 252 fire fighters to put out the fire completely and was the biggest fire the country had ever seen at the time. In the end, nothing could be salvaged. The damage was estimated to be R 353, 4 million. Thousands of public records were destroyed. The building was 44 years old, non-compliant with the South African national building regulations,SANS 10400 and known to be a fire hazard. . There were no casualties as the fire started after hours. The building was demolished in 2013.