Fire guts restaurant at Brovad Sands Lodges in Kalangala
This photo taken on March 28, 2022 shows fire razing down a restaurant at Brovad Sands Lodges, Kalangala District. PHOTO | SLYVESTER SSEMUGENYI
What you need to know:
- Kalangala is among the districts, which suffer frequent fire incidents given the fact that many islanders store petroleum for their boat engines inside their houses, which also serve as kitchens, thus exposing them to fire outbreaks.
Police in the island district of Kalangala are investigating a fire incident at Brovad Sands Lodges, which destroyed property worth millions of shillings.
According to the hotel manager, Mr Erick Bakuru Wasswa, the fire started at around 10pm Monday night from the ridge of the roof, before spreading to the rest of the grass-thatched structure.
“Since the restaurant had an inflammable roof, fire only took about 30 minutes to destroy the entire structure,” he said in an interview on Tuesday morning.
“We tried to use the available small fire extinguishers, but could not do much. A lot of valuable assets like furniture, stocked beer and souvenir shop - all went up in flames,” he added.
Fortunately, no life lost as the fire was contained on time before spreading to the guest cottages.
Mr Nandu Mugoya, the community liaison officer at Kalangala Police station, said by the time they reached the scene at 10:30 pm, fire had already destroyed the biggest part of the restaurant.
“Since we lack a fire tender, we took the district water bowser truck to try and put out the fire, but the vehicle could not easily access the scene because the narrow road, we therefore had to pour water using hand bowls as we prayed to God for the fire to stop,” he said.
He advised beach and hotel owners in the area to consider appropriate building plans that leave enough access roads that can be used in case of emergencies.
Kalangala is among the districts, which suffer frequent fire incidents given the fact that many islanders store petroleum for their boat engines inside their houses, which also serve as kitchens, thus exposing them to fire outbreaks.
In the last 10 months, fire has gutted hundreds of houses at Nkese Island and another fire burnt a wooden kiosk at Bugala B village in Kalangala Town Council.
Traditionally, residents at many of the landing sites sleep in wooden structures, which easily catch fire.
Unfortunately, the district comprising of 64 islands lacks a single motorized fire engine. Recently, local leaders asked the government to provide them with a fire engine or amphibious fireboats.
