Panic in Downtown San José As Blaze Engulfs Building
The fear that a downtown fire could cause a tradegy was averted last night by the work of the firefighters who have been training for such an eventuality.

The fire broke out about 5:30pm in the office building known as "Edifico Infiland", located at the corner of Avenida Central and Calle 4, across from the Banco Central on the north and Banco de Costa Rica on the west.

The cause of the fire is still unknown as the top two floors of the building that housed an English language school and internet café, among other offices that was totally engulfed in flames and smoke and took firefighters hours to bring under control. At the bottom level of the building retail stores include Pizza Hut and the Penny Land shoe store.

Police blocked off an area of a 100 metre radius to keep onlookers at a safe distance and closed off Avenida Segunda to all vehicular traffic. The San José fire station located only a few blocks from the fire had to call in reinforcements from other stations in Barrio Lujan, Pavas and as far away as Santo Domingo de Heredia.

All the occupants of the buidling were rapidly evacuated to safety, closing doors behind them that helped curb the spread of the flames.

The fear of firefighters was that the flames would spread to nearby buildings like the Simon retail store that for a short time was being threatened. The buildings in the area are old and do not count with a sprinkler system.

Special firefighting equipment had to be brought in to help control and battle the blaze.