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CHENNAI: Sharmila never thought it would be the last Pongal that she would celebrate with her father K Anbazhagan. Lead fire officer at Teynampet fire station, Anbazagan died in the fire that struck Ezhilagam here on Monday. The family was gearing up for an engagement, but that did not deter the duty conscious officer from jumping into rescue activities soon after the tragedy struck. “We finished the festival related poojas and were about to have lunch when my father received a call and he left immediately. I even asked him not to go out on Pongal day, but he refused. He later called us over phone,” said a sobbing Sharmila, the eldest of Anbazhagan’s daughters.“We knew he had gone to the spot, but never thought he would not come back. Around 4.30 am, we got information that he was injured. Only after we reached the hospital did we know that he had died on the spot,” Sharmila said.The family members said the 55-year-old officer, who had put in 25 years of service in the department, was transferred to Chennai from Chidambaram, which was near his native village Sethiyur, only two years back as his son Shankar joined an engineering college here to study aeronautical engineering. They said Anbazhagan was a recipient of the Chief Minister’s Award.Anbazagan’s wife Amudha and children — Sharmila, Sheela, Shalini and Shankar — are worried the most about the fact that he could not see even one of his children’s wedding. Sharmila was to get engaged on January 29. The wedding was to take place on May 25. “He was on leave for a few days and had personally gone to invite all our relatives and friends. He returned to duty just three days ago. More than making his children study well, he was proud to wear his uniform. We even asked him to take voluntary retirement, but he refused,” Sheela, the officer’s second daughter, said.Anbazagan’s children alleged that he had to attend to the accident as many firemen had gone on leave. “Usually he is into wireless communication. But this time, he entered the building,” Sheela said.