Firefighters rush to burning garage with empty truck

PIC: The firefighters had to bring in another fire engine to extinguish the blaze. (Credit: Jackie Nambogga)

ACCIDENT | FIRE

JINJA - When Moses Lubega saw thick black smoke billowing out of a building from a distance, he did not know its exact origin.

But on closer inspection, he noticed it was the garage he owned that had caught fire.

Lubega swiftly flung out his mobile phone and called the fire brigade. Within 10 minutes, the fire engine had arrived at the scene of the Tuesday morning fire.

There was one problem though.

The truck was empty. No water.

Shocked onlookers watched as the firefighting team rushed back to the station and returned shortly after with another truck – this one carrying the chief ingredient of their mission: water.

But a lot of damage had already been done.

Some voiced their sentiments over the fire brigade’s poor preparation.

“Water is an ingredient required by the fire brigade to put out fires, but it is unfortunate that they drove an empty truck to put off the fire, which has destroyed most of the gadgets,” said a one Hamida Namukose.

“It is like a gardener going to their garden without their tools.”

She was near the scene of the blaze along Oboja Road in Jinja district.

Several gadgets worth millions of shillings were destroyed, leaving mechanics and technicians distraught.

Kiira regional Police fire commander Collins Agaba said the cause of the fire had not been immediately established.

On his part, garage owner Lubega said it likely resulted from an electric circuit in one the rooms where they had stored gas cylinders, fridges and compressors.

Police said they managed to salvage a few things, but blamed the current trend of locals constructing “illegal structures” in alleys.

“We always find it difficult to put out fire in places where alleys have been eaten up by illegal developments. This hinders us from quickly getting to our target buildings during an emergency,” said Agaba.

He asked the Jinja municipality authorities to stop the allocation of alleys for development, saying such space should be reserved for such eventualities.