Fire destroys kiosks in Fort Portal City

Police in Fort Portal City in western Uganda are investigating the cause of a fire that destroyed several kiosks, furniture stores, motorcycle and vehicle spare parts and a hotel, among others in Kisenyi along Fort Portal-Bundibugyo road in Central Division.
Some of the victims of the Friday night fire told police that it was caused by illegal electricity connection.

The Rwenzori West Police spokesperson, Mr Vincent Twesige, said the fire which started at around 11:50pm on Friday night left property worth millions destroyed with no death(s) reported.
“We highly suspect the cause of the fire to be illegal power connections to the owners of some kiosks, because when it started, people who were around heard blasts. Some people could have connected themselves [to electricity poles] illegally,” he said on Saturday morning.

Mr Twesige said they are still conducting further investigations to ascertain the exact cause of fire that left most of the properties burnt to ashes despite police fire brigade’s efforts to contain it.

“We watched the buildings getting burnt, we tried our best to save some property but we could not do much. What annoys us is that police came late to contain the fire,” said one of the eyewitnesses, Mr Joseph Mpoza.
According to him, if police fire brigade had arrived in time, it would have saved several properties.

“I was shocked to hear our leaders telling us that they have contacted police from Mubende and Kasese to come and contain the fire. It's a shame how the whole police of Fort Portal has one vehicle to contain fire,” he said.
However, the Mr Twesige said the fire brigade arrived at the scene in time but the fire had burnt many houses and they tried to save some properties.
“Our police fire brigade arrived at the scene in time but we found that fire had burnt many buildings,” he said.

Losing property
One of the victims, Ms Agnes Kasiime, said she lost all her property in the fire while others were stolen by people who claimed to have gone to rescue them.
“I was dealing with keeping my second hand clothes in one of the houses that were burnt. I tried to save clothes but also thieves took them. I am now stuck because I don’t know where to begin from. I want a Good Samaritans to come to my rescue,” she said.