Key documents destroyed as fire razes Masaka City stores
Smoke billows out of the Masaka City stores, which were gutted by fire on Tuesday. PHOTO | RICHARD KYANJO
What you need to know:
- Mr Yasin Busulwa, a witness and driver attached to Masaka City Council, said he saw smoke coming from the building a few minutes after he had left his phone on the charger inside.
Police are investigating a suspected case of arson after fire destroyed crucial documents at Masaka City stores on Tuesday afternoon.
The inferno destroyed some parts of the city yard, which houses the stores in Soweto, a Masaka City suburb. No casualty was reported.
“The inferno majorly destroyed important documents, most of which were considered sensitive. There is a possibility that someone could have started it for reasons only known to him,” Mr Hussein Mugarura, the Masaka City police commander, said.
He added: “Investigations to establish the exact cause of the fire are under way and we call upon all members of the community to cooperate with us to establish the truth.”
Mr Yasin Busulwa, a witness and driver attached to Masaka City Council, said he saw smoke coming from the building a few minutes after he had left his phone on the charger inside.
“At first, we thought it was mist but on getting closer, we saw the blaze coming out from the stores, we called the police fire brigade, which swiftly responded and prevented it from spreading to other buildings,” he said.
The first fire truck, which arrived at the scene at 1am, ran out of water, prompting the Fire and Prevention Rescue Services Unit at Masaka Central Police Station to deploy two more fire brigade trucks to extinguish the fire.
Mr Busulwa suspects the inferno to have been caused by a short electric circuit.
According to Mr Tony Ssempijja, the Masaka City Council speaker, the fire caused a big loss to the city administration as the gutted building was a store for all old files that contained different city records dating back to 1953 when Masaka was still a township.
What leaders say
“It’s very unfortunate that we have lost very many files –some contained council minutes, old physical plans, big tyres for our garbage trucks, which we had just procured, wheelbarrows and other tools that all went up in flames,” he said.
Fire incidents become so rampant during dry spells, which usually leads to build-up of inflammable materials. Some incidents are accidental while others are blamed on arsonists who usually take advantage of the situation. On Monday, several traders in Kiganda Zone, Kisenyi II Parish in Kampala Central Division lost billions of shillings in an early morning fire that gutted their stalls and stores.
The Police Fire Brigade also struggled to put out the fire, which had gutted maize mills, poultry feeds stores and maize stores ,among others, amid lack of enough water.
Mr Ramathan Manduwa, the chairperson of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party for Kiganda Zone, Kisenyi II Parish, also claimed that the arsonists could be sponsored by those interested in the land.
Background
According to the police’s latest crime annual report, 1,015 fire emergencies were handled in 2020. The c fire incidents were mainly attributed to charcoal stoves (173 incidents), electric short circuits (163), negligence (50), arson (49), electrical appliances left unattended (32) and overheating (31), among others.
