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A Bulawayo Fire Brigade official attempting to put out the fire. (Pictures by Fortune Muzarabane)

BULAWAYO was on Wednesday rocked by a massive fire which gutted an unoccupied building and reduced five cars to shells in the Central Business District. It is suspected the fire was caused by homeless people who were sheltering inside the building and the situation was worsened by fuel which was kept in the building by illegal fuel dealers.

No one was injured in the fire which torched a building at the corner of Joshua Nkomo Street and 11th Avenue near Magnet House at 2PM. The city’s firefighters and a few brave members of the public were the heroes of the day as they teamed up to put out the fire before it spread to other buildings nearby. We commiserate with the owners of the building which was completely destroyed in the inferno and proprietors of the five vehicles which were reduced to shells.

We also pay tribute to members of the public who joined the Fire Brigade in trying to contain the fire which was raging and threatening to engulf other properties. We are, however worried about the lack of care for the building by its owners as it appeared to have been abandoned with street kids and other homeless people making it their home.

Illegal fuel dealers also seem to have taken advantage of the vacant building to conduct their business and the presence of petrol could have contributed to the extent of the damage. Fire hazards increase in winter and in the wake of the latest incident, we feel it is incumbent upon every resident of Bulawayo to be vigilant and guard against fires.

The Fire Brigade has identified the leading cause of fires as faulty electrical appliances, overloading of electrical circuits, carelessness in handling fuel and children playing with matches. During times of load shedding, there were high incidents of electrical faults due to power surges but that has gone down since Zesa suspended power outages as electricity supplies improved.

Bulawayo recorded 383 fire incidents last year, a sharp decrease of 45 percent compared to 691 recorded over the same period in 2015. The city’s chief fire officer Mr Richard Petersen shared the statistics during a handover and unveiling of fire and rescue equipment by United Kingdom based by Operation Florian at the Famona Fire Station in March.

“As at December 31, 2016, the service recorded a reduction in the occurrence of fires from 691 in 2015 to 383 in 2016, representing a 45 percent decrease in fire outbreaks in the city. This was a consequence of improved fire safety information, systems, programmes targeted at mitigating risks of fire outbreaks and improved strategies in the enforcement of the city’s fire safety by-laws,” said Mr Petersen.

He said the partnership with Operation Florian has seen them receive 13 vehicles, materials and training of students and personnel in the past seven years. The chief fire officer said the emergency service now has the capacity to respond to all distress calls within 10 minutes, the exception being Mahatshula, Woodville, Waterford and Cowdray Park suburbs due to longer distances from the nearest station.

The partnership had resulted in the re-opening of Nkulumane and Northend fire stations in 2012 after their closure in 2008 due to economic challenges.

“Our neighbouring fire services operational capabilities have also improved in the past six years through donations of fire engines, firefighting and rescue equipment, personal protective equipment, clothing and training of personnel by Operation Florian,” said Mr Petersen.

“As a result Bulawayo has benefited in that Gweru, Gwanda, Zvishavane, Victoria Falls and Plumtree are now responding to emergencies occurring along their respective major highways that link with Bulawayo.

There is greater collaboration between Bulawayo Emergency Services and its neighbours and this has resulted in reduced pressure on the Bulawayo Fire Emergency Services’ resources”.

While this is a welcome and commendable development, we feel the emergency services should conduct more awareness programmes to educate members of the public on fire hazards. It should also forcefully enforce the city’s by-laws on safety. With the onset of winter, electricity usage increases as people use more appliances in their homes. This usually results in overloading of electrical circuits and use of braziers which could cause fires. Efforts should also be made to inspect all the city’s buildings to ensure that they have adequate fire safety measures in place.

Most of the city’s buildings are old and dilapidated and this could expose them to fire hazards. We are particularly worried about the state of high rise buildings such as the NRZ building, the City Council Tower Block and Kenilworth Towers in Ascot where a disaster of unmitigated proportions could occur should they be gutted by fire. This is more so following the Grenfell Tower disaster in London where 79 people lost their lives to a huge fire which engulfed the building.