Around 70,000 personal files of the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force have been destroyed during the fire at the Salawa army camp in Kosgama, Avissawella, military sources said.

Accordingly, there is no possibility of recovering these documents.

The Headquarters of the SLAVF was situated in the Salawa camp in Kosgama.

The Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force (SLAVF) is the principal and Volunteer reserve force component of the Sri Lanka Army. According to its website, the volunteer movement started in 1861. The volunteer force was established in 1881, by a proclamation issued by the Lieutenant Governor (Sir John Douglas KCMG) in the Government Gazette of 01 Apr 1881, authorizing the formation of “ The Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers “

When the Ceylon Army was created in 1949, the volunteer force became the Ceylon Volunteer Force. With the proclamation of the Republic of Sri Lanka on 22nd May 1972 the nomenclature of the Ceylon Volunteer Force changed to the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force.