LIRA | FIRE | OIL FACTORY

An oil factory has burned to ashes in Lira, destroying property and machinery worth over sh300m.

The fire at Rolex Africa Ltd.'s factory, which is located in Ipito Aweno-IPito gweno cell, Ojwina B Ward, Lira city's west division, started in the wee hours of Monday and destroyed almost everything, including processed oil, raw materials, and machinery.

Factory director Vikran Singh said he closed the factory on Sunday evening as there was no night shift. However, he was contacted by the security guard at about 2:00 am who told him that smoke was coming out of the store.

He added that, on reaching the factory, he found the fire had already engulfed the building.  

Singh said that the police were helped by a fire engine from the Mount Meru factory to put out the fire, but it was too little, too late, as the factory and its produce had already been burned to ashes.

Okema

“Everything is burnt, whatever was able to burn is burned, except the metal that could not melt,” he says.

The factory was employing 15 casual laborers who are now rendered jobless

Police speak out

North Kyoga Police spokesperson Jimmy Patrick Okema said the officers from the North Kyoga fire prevention and rescue services on Monday morning put out a fire that had gutted the oil factory.

Okema added that the fire was contained and the situation controlled, but assessment indicates that 70 metric tons of soya, 50 metric tons of sunflower, and 30 metric tons of cake were severely burnt.

The fire also destroyed four oil milling machines and 120 jerrycans of cooking oil, according to Okema.

He added that accessing the factory caused some delays. 

“We found the level of the fire too much and we were overwhelmed,” Okema said, a reason they called for help from Mount Meru factory.

Fire destruction at Rolex Africa Limited oil factory in Lira City.

He added that the cause of the fire is yet to be established.

Previous fire incident in the city

Last August, a fire engulfed an MTN service center on Obote Avenue, but the fire was put out before it destroyed much property.

The official report indicated that two laptops and 125 mobile phones were destroyed.