It _almost_ sounds like you're suggesting the fire was deliberate!

It is very convenient timing

>This file contains the complete set of papers, except for a number of secret documents, a few others which are part of still active files, some correspondence lost in the floods of 1967...

>Was 1967 a particularly bad winter?

>No, a marvellous winter. We lost no end of embarrassing files.

Yes minister! Great show that no one in the US has heard of which is a shame.

"We must do something --> this is something --> We must do this!"

Or investigations into a major financial scandal in a large French bank!

(While the Credit Lyonnais was investigated in the 90s, both the HQ and the site where they stored their archives were destroyed by fire within a few months)