Latest on police fire

20 Jun, 2021 - 00:06 0 Views
Latest on police fire

The Sunday News

Sithatshisiwe Vuma, Sunday News Reporter
IN a revelation that has exposed that most of Bulawayo’s buildings are not safe from damage by fire, it has emerged that all fire-fighting equipment at the African Life Building which houses the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) residential flat and offices at Bulawayo’s Central Business District that was gutted by fire on Friday, was not operational.

According to a report by the Bulawayo City Council Fire Department, there was no operational fire-fighting equipment in the building that includes a hose reel and hand extinguishers. The dry riser, an empty pipe system running up the inside of a building which must be connected to fire tenders and used as a pressurised water system was also vandalised.

Acting Bulawayo chief fire officer Mr Linos Phiri said in the report: “Firefighters couldn’t find hose reel and hand extinguishers in the building and to worsen the matter the dry riser was not working as it was vandalised. The firefighter team had to run hoses from the ground along the staircase up to the 13th floor to put out the fire.”

A dry riser is an empty pipe that can be connected by firefighters to a pressurised water source as it is intended to distribute water to multiple levels of a building or structure as a component of the fire suppression systems. The report also confirmed the fire was caused by an electrical fault.

“The team observed burnt tangling electrical wires feeding various electrical gadgets in the make shift lounge,” reads part of the report.

A tenant residing at the building is said to have noticed the sparking electrical wires and reported downstairs to an Inspector R Chimombe from ZRP who called the Fire Brigade team.

“Hazel Maronga residing at number 1302 stated that she was in the lounge and heard a sparking sound from the other side of the makeshift lounge. On investigating, she observed smoke and went down the stairs to report,” reads the report.

No one was injured but it is understood that most of the property in the affected part of the flat was burnt.

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