Property worth millions destroyed in six-hour Seeta fuel station fire

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Property worth millions of shillings has been reduced to ashes after a devastating fire tore through the Mogas fuel station in Seeta, Mukono district, in the early hours of April 15, 2026, with Police Fire and Rescue Services teams locked in a gruelling six-hour battle before finally bringing the blaze under control.

The fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday, sending plumes of thick smoke into the night sky and jolting residents along the busy Kampala–Mukono corridor awake.

Preliminary investigations by police point to an electrical short circuit originating from the wall fence that separates the fuel station from an adjacent timber dealer’s premises as the likely ignition point.

The proximity of the fuel station to the timber yard made the situation particularly volatile, with firefighters racing against time to prevent the flames from engulfing a wider area.

Neighbouring properties, including a timber dealership, were razed as emergency teams worked to establish a containment perimeter.

Businessman Muzamiru Ssekitoleko told police that they were alerted too late to save their property.

He said they only received a telephone call from the night guard at the fuel station after the fire had already destroyed most of the property, leaving residents and nearby traders unable to attempt any rescue efforts.

Traffic chaos

Beyond the destruction at the scene, the fire triggered widespread traffic disruption along one of the busiest arterial roads. As fire engines and emergency vehicles converged on Seeta, long queues of vehicles formed in both directions along the Kampala–Mukono highway, disrupting the morning commute for thousands of road users.

The route (Kampala–Jinja highway) serves as the main connection to the eastern part of Uganda.

Luke Owoyesigyire, deputy public relations officer for Kampala Metropolitan Police, issued a public advisory.

"Due to the ongoing firefighting operations, traffic congestion has started building up in the area, affecting the normal flow of traffic. The Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety advises road users to use alternative routes to ensure smoother movement," he said.

Motorists travelling from Mukono towards Kampala were advised to divert via Seeta–Sonde Road through Namugongo to access the city, while those heading in the opposite direction were encouraged to use Jookas through Namanve Industrial Park or alternatively take the Northern Bypass via Naalya–Sonde–Seeta.

Police apologised for the inconvenience and urged the public to exercise patience as teams managed the situation.

What starts these fires?

Full details of the incident are yet to be formally communicated, but Assistant Inspector General of Police Stephen Tanui, director of Fire Prevention and Rescue Services, shed light on the patterns that investigators typically follow when fires of this nature are reported.

Tanui lists electrical short circuits as one of the most prevalent causes of fire outbreaks in Uganda, alongside negligence, misuse of wax candles, poor cooking habits involving charcoal stoves and open cookers, electrical appliances left unattended, suspected arson, overheating, electrical welding and gas cutting, uncontrolled burning, flammable fuel spillage, and gas cylinder explosions.

“The combination of an electrical fault in a fence adjacent to a fuel depot and a timber yard represents, by any measure, a near-perfect storm of fire risk factors,” reads excerpts of a preliminary police report.

Second fuel station fire in just ten days

What makes Wednesday’s incident particularly alarming is that it is the second fire to gut a fuel station in the greater Kampala–Mukono region in barely ten days, raising urgent questions about fire safety compliance and oversight at petroleum facilities across the country.

On April 6, a fire broke out at a Total fuel station in Sonde, Mukono district, in circumstances that police have since classified as deliberate arson.

A suspect identified as Lawrence Mutaka, a former supervisor at the station, allegedly stole cash from the station offices in the dead of night before setting the premises ablaze in a calculated bid to conceal the theft.

Emergency responders managed to contain that blaze before it could spread to parked vehicles and nearby property.

"From the CCTV review, the suspect is seen entering the office, taking cash, and later setting the place ablaze before fleeing," Owoyesigyire said at a press conference held at Police Headquarters in Naguru, Kampala.

He said Mutaka sustained burn injuries while executing the arson and issued an urgent appeal to all health facilities across the region.

"We are calling upon all medics and health facilities to notify police in case they receive any male victim with suspicious burn injuries," Owoyesigyire said.

Report

According to Uganda Police Force statistics, 1,310 fire incidents and rescue operations were registered in 2025, compared to 1,595 in 2024, representing a 17.9% decrease. While the downward trend is encouraging, 1,000 of those incidents were fires, with 970 successfully responded to and managed by teams on the ground.

Electricity-related faults remained the single largest cause of fires nationally, responsible for 492 incidents in 2025 alone. Negligence and misuse of wax candles accounted for a further 86 incidents.

Residential buildings bore the heaviest toll, recording 600 fire incidents, while school fires registered a 3.6% increase, rising from 55 incidents in 2024 to 57 in 2025.

Almost half of all fires were reported between 6:00 am and noon.

The Kampala Metropolitan area continued to record the highest concentration of fire outbreaks, with 264 incidents in 2025. Within the metropolitan zone, KMP South (Makindye Division) led with 96 incidents, followed by Katonga with 65.

Perhaps most troubling is Uganda’s firefighter-to-population ratio, which currently stands at a deeply strained 1:75,000. That figure is far below the United Nations recommended ratio of 1:2,000, meaning Uganda has roughly 37 times fewer firefighters per head of population than international standards require.

Police fire safety experts warn that until this gap is addressed through investment in personnel, equipment and fire prevention education, incidents like the one that reduced Mogas Seeta to ashes will continue to exact a heavy human and economic toll.