Fire guts Mbale district water office
Jan 14, 2009
FIRE has gutted the Mbale district water offices located on Works Road, destroying data files and office equipment worth millions of shillings.
By Daniel Edyegu
FIRE has gutted the Mbale district water offices located on Works Road, destroying data files and office equipment worth millions of shillings.
The fire, which broke out at about 7:00am on Tuesday in the stores and spread to three other rooms, is suspected to have been sparked off by an electric short circuit.
“We sighted a small fire on the ceiling board of the office stores and dashed to report the incident to the Police.
“But the Police told us that the fire brigade truck had broken down. When we came back, the fire had spread to other rooms,†said William Nangosyah, the district engineer.
Nangosyah said the works department hastily mobilised for a water tanker and pump to extinguish the fire before it could spread.
He said the fire destroyed procurement documents, the files possessing information on the on-going contracts the department was implementing in the district and payment records since 1994 for the districts of Bududa, Mbale and Manafwa.
“We would have succeeded in putting out the fire in time but our truck ran out of water. When we came back, the fire had exploded again. If the Police had acted on time, the fire would not have caused such massive destruction,†Nangosyah said.
The Police fire brigade truck from Tororo arrived at the scene at 9:40pm, about three hours after the works ministry personnel had nearly put out the fire.
The eastern regional Police spokesman, Iddi Ssenkumbi, said the district fire brigade truck developed a technical fault a month ago.
“It is unfortunate that we could not stop this fire in time because our fire brigade truck has been parked at the station due to technical problems. We had to call our colleagues from Tororo to intervene, and it took them time to arrive,†Ssenkumbi said.
FIRE has gutted the Mbale district water offices located on Works Road, destroying data files and office equipment worth millions of shillings.
The fire, which broke out at about 7:00am on Tuesday in the stores and spread to three other rooms, is suspected to have been sparked off by an electric short circuit.
“We sighted a small fire on the ceiling board of the office stores and dashed to report the incident to the Police.
“But the Police told us that the fire brigade truck had broken down. When we came back, the fire had spread to other rooms,†said William Nangosyah, the district engineer.
Nangosyah said the works department hastily mobilised for a water tanker and pump to extinguish the fire before it could spread.
He said the fire destroyed procurement documents, the files possessing information on the on-going contracts the department was implementing in the district and payment records since 1994 for the districts of Bududa, Mbale and Manafwa.
“We would have succeeded in putting out the fire in time but our truck ran out of water. When we came back, the fire had exploded again. If the Police had acted on time, the fire would not have caused such massive destruction,†Nangosyah said.
The Police fire brigade truck from Tororo arrived at the scene at 9:40pm, about three hours after the works ministry personnel had nearly put out the fire.
The eastern regional Police spokesman, Iddi Ssenkumbi, said the district fire brigade truck developed a technical fault a month ago.
“It is unfortunate that we could not stop this fire in time because our fire brigade truck has been parked at the station due to technical problems. We had to call our colleagues from Tororo to intervene, and it took them time to arrive,†Ssenkumbi said.