Fire leaves Mbale vendors in tears
Feb 20, 2011
KIKINDU Market vendors in Mbale town lost property worth millions of shillings after a fire gutted their kiosks on Kumi last week.
By Joseph Wanzusi
KIKINDU Market vendors in Mbale town lost property worth millions of shillings after a fire gutted their kiosks on Kumi last week.
Abass Musana, a resident of Kisenyi Cell in Nabuyonga Ward, said the cause of the fire that started from food kiosks was not known.
A Police fire officer at the scene said they responded promptly after receiving telephone calls from the residents, but the fire engine ran out of water before they could put out the fire.
“When we went to fetch more water, the National Water & Sewerage Corporation water hydrants around town had no water,†the officer lamented.
Zaidi Kuloba, a charcoal vendor, said he lost a stock worth sh2.4m, which he had offloaded the previous evening.
“All my working capital is gone. This was my only main source of income,†Kuloba moaned as he attempted to salvage some of the charcoal that was still smouldering.
Fire outbreaks in markets has become rampant in the recent past across the country.
In September last year, over 80 stalls in Nakaloke market in Mbale district were gutted by fire, destroying merchandise worth millions of shillings.
The fire, suspected to have been caused by an electric short circuit, gutted two blocks located in the middle of the market where electronics and food items are sold.
An official statistics indicate that these markets are always mostly occupied by impoverished widows who manage big families of more than five children each.
KIKINDU Market vendors in Mbale town lost property worth millions of shillings after a fire gutted their kiosks on Kumi last week.
Abass Musana, a resident of Kisenyi Cell in Nabuyonga Ward, said the cause of the fire that started from food kiosks was not known.
A Police fire officer at the scene said they responded promptly after receiving telephone calls from the residents, but the fire engine ran out of water before they could put out the fire.
“When we went to fetch more water, the National Water & Sewerage Corporation water hydrants around town had no water,†the officer lamented.
Zaidi Kuloba, a charcoal vendor, said he lost a stock worth sh2.4m, which he had offloaded the previous evening.
“All my working capital is gone. This was my only main source of income,†Kuloba moaned as he attempted to salvage some of the charcoal that was still smouldering.
Fire outbreaks in markets has become rampant in the recent past across the country.
In September last year, over 80 stalls in Nakaloke market in Mbale district were gutted by fire, destroying merchandise worth millions of shillings.
The fire, suspected to have been caused by an electric short circuit, gutted two blocks located in the middle of the market where electronics and food items are sold.
An official statistics indicate that these markets are always mostly occupied by impoverished widows who manage big families of more than five children each.