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Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
PANIC stricken shoppers had to be evacuated from OK supermarket’s Jason Moyo Street branch in Bulawayo at around 5pm yesterday following a fire scare.

Confusion reigned supreme after fire sprinklers went off, dousing shoppers and stock with water.

A group of women who were among the first to rush out shouted that a woman had been burnt to death inside, adding to the uproar.  It later turned out there was no fire, thus no one had been burnt.

Fire fighters said staff members hung Easter decorations on the sprinkler heads and triggered them off when they tugged on the decorations.

A vendor, Mr Zakes Zulu said he saw people rushing out of the supermarket screaming.

“I was just selling my fruits off my cart at the door when I saw people rushing out of the supermarket and dumping their groceries at the tills. Some women were just shouting that “kuyatsha kuyatsha” (the building is on fire), but I did not see any fire. The next moment, I noticed that there was a lot of water on the floor  coming out through the supermarket entrance,”  he said.

Ms Sandra Madzore, a shopper said she was shaken by the incident as she had started reminiscing about the Nando’s incident that killed two people in the city recently when part of the building housing the fast food outlet collapsed.

“I got so scared and I had just swiped my card to get cash back at the till. The chaos started and I was even scared to wait for my money thinking that something terrible would happen. I remembered what happened at Nando’s recently and it makes one suspicious of funny incidents like this. You know it was as if rain was coming down from the ceiling as the sprinklers went off.”

She said although no one was injured, she found the incident traumatising.

Security guards battled to control shoppers and to prevent looting.

The head of operations at the Fire Brigade, Mr Lyons Phiri said the incident was caused by a faulty sprinkler head.

“There was a faulty sprinkler head. Sprinkler heads serve to detect fires so that they can be put out even if there is no one in a building. The sprinkler head has a head that detects smoke, heat and fires, using alcohol in a bulb. When it heats up, the liquid expands and the bulb breaks, allowing the water to come out, to put out a fire,” said Mr Phiri.

“In this case this sprinkler may have been tampered with by staff putting up decorations in the supermarket and hanging them on the sprinklers. This may have caused the glass bulb that blocks the water to break and allow water to gush out.”

A supervisor at the supermarket who was working with fire officers told a Chronicle news crew that he was busy and could not comment.

“I’m sorry, as you can see; I’m very busy. I’m just too busy,” said the supervisor, who was referred to as Mr Njema.

The branch manager Mr Joshua Mzembi declined to comment and referred all questions to the head office in Harare. The head office phones rang unanswered.

— @andile_tshuma.