Fire guts Njeru, 19 families left homeless

Nineteen families have been left homeless after fire in UEB village in Njeru division - Buikwe district gutted most of their houses.

According to preliminary investigations by Police, the cause could have been a charcoal stove that was in one of the houses.

The fire later spread to other houses, but it was not quickly detected since most of the home owners had gone to work.

Later fire rescue vehicles responded, but they found a difficult time stopping the fire since the vehicles could not reach some of the burning houses.

This forced the Police driver to knock Catherine Atushirwe's house to gain entrance.

However, some of the affected residents blamed the quick spread of the fire on increased power theft and illegal connections in their area.

"This is not the first time our houses are destroyed in a fire. We have tried our best to approach both our leaders and Umeme people to end the illegal connections, but they have not helped," residents said.