Fire guts Bwaise Market
Mar 12, 2009
OVER 1,000 traders have lost their businesses following a fire that gutted a timber and furniture mart in Bwaise, a Kampala suburb, yesterday.
By Jeff Lule
OVER 1,000 traders have lost their businesses following a fire that gutted a timber and furniture mart in Bwaise, a Kampala suburb, yesterday.
The 1:40am fire destroyed property worth millions of shillings as 120 workshops filled with timber, furniture and carpentry machinery were reduced to ashes.
Each workshop employed over 10 people. The Police reported no human casualties in the fire.
Witnesses commended the Police Fire Brigade and Fire Masters (a private firm) for their quick response, thus stopping the fire from spreading.
The acting chief fire officer, Lawrence Adima, said the fire was cleared at around 4:30am.
“We spent a lot of time trying to reach many of the workshops in this crowded area, but managed to stop the fire from spreading,†Adima said.
Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba urged market managers to create enough access roads a prerequisite for such incidences.
A sombre mood yesterday hang over the market where timber dealers looked on helplessly as the Police sealed off the place for investigations.
Kenneth Jogo, a trader whose workshop burnt down wept as he saw the wreckage of his machinery, which was worth sh50m.
“Much of my capital was borrowed. I lost timber worth sh40m and my documents were also burnt. I am finished,†Jogo lamented.
The Police said investigations show that the fire started at a mattress warehouse before spreading to workshops in the slums adjacent to a Total filling station. An incomplete block of flats was also burnt.
The fire started as football fans celebrated Arsenal’s win over AS Roma in a cinema hall next to the furniture mart.
“We heard something burst as we went home after watching a football match and we rushed to see what had happened. That is when we saw the mattress warehouse on fire. The flames spread at a high speed since every material was highly inflammable,†said Joseph Muwonge, a worker at the market.
Area vice-chairman Ali Kyeswa said they suspected the fire was started by an arsonist.
“We discovered a three-litre jerrycan smelling of petrol at the scene and we think someone deliberately started the fire,†Kyeswa said.
By press time, no arrests had been made.
This is the second market fire in Kampala in two weeks after the one that destroyed property worth billions of shillings at Nakivubo Park Yard Market on February 26.
OVER 1,000 traders have lost their businesses following a fire that gutted a timber and furniture mart in Bwaise, a Kampala suburb, yesterday.
The 1:40am fire destroyed property worth millions of shillings as 120 workshops filled with timber, furniture and carpentry machinery were reduced to ashes.
Each workshop employed over 10 people. The Police reported no human casualties in the fire.
Witnesses commended the Police Fire Brigade and Fire Masters (a private firm) for their quick response, thus stopping the fire from spreading.
The acting chief fire officer, Lawrence Adima, said the fire was cleared at around 4:30am.
“We spent a lot of time trying to reach many of the workshops in this crowded area, but managed to stop the fire from spreading,†Adima said.
Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba urged market managers to create enough access roads a prerequisite for such incidences.
A sombre mood yesterday hang over the market where timber dealers looked on helplessly as the Police sealed off the place for investigations.
Kenneth Jogo, a trader whose workshop burnt down wept as he saw the wreckage of his machinery, which was worth sh50m.
“Much of my capital was borrowed. I lost timber worth sh40m and my documents were also burnt. I am finished,†Jogo lamented.
The Police said investigations show that the fire started at a mattress warehouse before spreading to workshops in the slums adjacent to a Total filling station. An incomplete block of flats was also burnt.
The fire started as football fans celebrated Arsenal’s win over AS Roma in a cinema hall next to the furniture mart.
“We heard something burst as we went home after watching a football match and we rushed to see what had happened. That is when we saw the mattress warehouse on fire. The flames spread at a high speed since every material was highly inflammable,†said Joseph Muwonge, a worker at the market.
Area vice-chairman Ali Kyeswa said they suspected the fire was started by an arsonist.
“We discovered a three-litre jerrycan smelling of petrol at the scene and we think someone deliberately started the fire,†Kyeswa said.
By press time, no arrests had been made.
This is the second market fire in Kampala in two weeks after the one that destroyed property worth billions of shillings at Nakivubo Park Yard Market on February 26.