Kalangala fire destroys property worth more than sh100m

Jul 28, 2020

The incident occurred on Sunday night, leaving the fishermen's community homeless.

A fire outbreak at Kisaba Landing Site in Kyamuswa sub-county has consumed 25 wooden shacks and property worth over sh100m.
 
The incident occurred on Sunday night, leaving the fishermen's community homeless.
 
Police's preliminary investigations have established that one of the community members went to buy charcoal from a retail dealer but while he packed it, he unknowingly rolled in a piece that had already caught fire.
 
He then took the sac home, locked it in his shack and left for other businesses. Moments later, the fire started attracting the residents' attention.
 
It swiftly spread fast and wild, consuming all the congested shacks and retail shops. Household items, clothes and beddings burnt to ashes.
 
Other destroyed property include boat engines, fishing nets and important documents among others.
 
Wilberforce Kakooza, the Kyamuswa sub-county councillor, said the congestion enabled the fire to spread fast. He explained that this is the fifth fire outbreak on the same landing site.
 
"The first one occurred in 2008 and subsequently happened in 2011, 2015 and 2018. This time it caused much damage since it happened at night. The good thing is that no one was injured," he said.
 
However, the incident sent a signal and a wakeup call to the district leaders.
 
According to Willy Lugoloobi, the Kalangala district chairperson, they are to have well-built structures at all landing sites to avoid losing property in similar circumstances.
 
On several occasions, he explained, they have engaged landing site communities and advised them to desist from compacting their structures in vain.
 
He added that most of the structures are 20x30ft and too congested.
 
"It is after the occurrence of such painful incidents that they regret. And while reconstructing, they repeat the same mistake. That's why we have to work out a plan to force them to build structures which are spaced," he said.
 
Lugoloobi further noted that several landing sites, including Ddajje, Kasekulo, Lutoboka and Lwannabatya have caught fire in the past but spacing their structures has remained a challenge.
 
Red Cross reached the affected landing site to ascertain the impact of the fire.
 
Ibrahim Ssennyonga, the co-ordinator of Red Cross-Kalangala, said they would help the affected residents.
 
He further appealed to the district authorities and other well-wishers to intervene and support the ill-fated households.
 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});