Police probe Namugongo school fire

WAKISO  | NAMUGONGO

Police have picked samples to ascertain what exactly caused the fire where student's property worth millions of shillings was destroyed at Uganda Martyr's Secondary School Namugongo, in Waksio district.

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19, government set up measures to fight the virus including closing schools. Students were sent home - however, most of their property remained at schools on presumption that schools would reopen.

Yesterday morning a school dormitory was burnt by a fire whose cause is a subject of ongoing investigations.

An eyewitness said; "We had a loud bang followed by thick smoke that covered the area." she added; "We sounded an alarm to alert neighbors."





By press time, some parents had turned up at the schools to establish what caused the fire.

Another parent who spoke on condition of anonymity claimed to have come to pick property of their children. However, she was turned away by a Counter Terrorism policeman also at the scene - under the pretext of ‘observing social distance and forming crowds.'

The metropolitan deputy police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigyire said; the fire incident happened in the wee- hours for Saturday morning at the school (Uganda Martyr's Secondary School Namugongo) in Namugongo, Kira Municipality in Wakiso district.   Kira division police is investigating the matter.

"Fire prevention and rescue services responded at the scene and the fire was later put out," Owoyesigyire observed.

When asked about the cause of fire, Owoyesigyire said; "It has been established that the fire started from a two storied building which was a dormitory for senior two and three students."

"A lot of property (personal effects for students) has been destroyed. There were no students at the time. Kira Division Police is still investigating to ascertain what exactly caused the fire," Owoyesigyire said.

In March, two dormitories at Gayaza High School; Kennedy and Corby were burnt by a fire whose cause is still a subject of investigations.





Report

A total of 999 fire emergencies were handled in 2019 compared to 1,018 in 2018 giving a 1.9% decrease, according to the Police's 2019 annual crime report.

The report linked the causes of fire to; to negligence with 187 incidents,  charcoal stoves/candle wax (170 cases), electrical short circuit (91) electrical appliances left unattended to registering (87)  arson (18) over heating had(4) , Sparks (4)  welding (3), lightening (1) and causes not established with / mysteriously (434).  Residential structures registered the highest number of the fire incident.

A total of 46 persons died in 2019 compared to 32 persons who died in 2018 due to fires.