Fire swept through six shops at ZIMCO yard on Freedom Way in Lusaka destroying property worth several millions of Kwacha.
Shop owners woke up to a rude shock, when they found debris from the inferno which started around 01:00 hours.
The cause of the fire could not immediately be established.
Fire fighters from the Lusaka City Council (LCC) and the Zambia Air Force (ZAF) had a tough time in quenching the inferno, raising more concerns from on-lookers in the capacity by fire fighters to protect public property.
The LCC fire fighters were the first to arrive on the scene but struggled to gain entry to any of the shops as the premises had been locked up by the owners at the time they were knocking off.
The ill-equipped fire fighters could not cut the locks and resorted to banging on the grille doors in the hope of knocking them down as the raging fire moved on, clearly completely consuming wares in one shop before moving on to the next.
The squad was forced to squirt the water over the roof and the small openings. This led to the two LCC engines running out of water without registering any meaningful impact on the fire.
The two engines left the scene to fetch more water and it was not until close to an hour after they had been gone that a more technologically advanced fire engine from the Zambia Air Force (ZAF) arrived.
Though not helping to save any of the merchandise in the shops, the arrival of the squad from ZAF made a difference as the fire quickly seemed to have come under control.
Apart from two ladies that came to the scene, all the shop owners were not present as the blazing fire consumed their life-time savings.
The two arrived at different times and both openly wailed upon seeing what state their business were in. One of them was only relieved upon realising that her shop had not yet been touched by the fire. She quickly called on members of the public to while mobilizing those that she had come with to dash into the shop and salvage what they could.
Lusaka Mayor, Daniel Chisenga said the LCC fire brigade had problems accessing fire hydrants which were supposed to be found near buildings.
Mr Chisenga said the local authority had plans to purchase more fire engines.
A check found shop owners, most of who were dealing in automotive spare parts, milling through the remains of their stores.
Juldan Motors, which operates near the gutted building, hurriedly moved busses and passenger chairs away from the ravaging flames, while customers scampered for safety and helplessly watched the inferno take its toll on part of the building.
A bus which had been left right in front of the building was only a few minutes from catching fire before the driver, whose whereabouts had remained unknown for a good while, arrived and hurriedly drove it to safety.
An eye witness, Mike Lungu, who is a fuel attendant at Ravasia filling station, said he and his colleagues noticed the building on fire around 01:00 hours.
One of the affected business owners of Sangwani minimart, Evaristo Tonga was visibly shaken by the extent of damage caused to his shop.
“Everything is shattered. You can’t even pick anything from here, as you can see,” Mr Tonga said.
He said he had lost property and undisclosed cash which was left in the shop.
Kentam Investments proprietor, Kennedy Botha and Felix Chongo, another owner of one of the burnt shops, estimated a loss of over K150 million and K300 million, respectively.
The Mayor attributed the fire brigade’s failure to control fires to lack of fire engines.
He said LCC would soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding with a private firm, Firecom, which runs a fire fighting business in the mines, to help in operations.
“When developing structures, it is very important to provide the local authorities with building plans because failure to do so is costing the city so much money,” Mr Chisenga said in an interview.
Useless LCC.
We have neglected our emergency services for decades! The fire hydrants have no water or the line has been connected to some residential area! Our firemen/women are ill equipped!
There we are! Always REACTING instead of planning ahead. How does LCC that ORIGINATES approvals fail to have building plans of such public buildings? This is firefighting in the real sense of the word.
sorry for the lose its very sad indeed
Buy…why enter into memorandum of understanding with a private firm.u want to have a cut mr.mayor
Street vending is the cause, they fray vitumbuwa in streets, they cook all sorts of things in streets can shops be safe with what’s happening in our streets???
we told your not to vote for pf, they have failed you. time to fire pf
If they can’t handle fire at a lowrise establishment how in the world will they handle a fire at Findeco?This is what you get from a govt whose priority is giving Sata & co a 100% raise than spending such money on fire equipment.
u are sick indeed, what makes you to blame sata?.
@Vodka, Sata & Co. raised their salaries by 100%, thats lack of priorities my friend!
I watched three different TV stations last evening with different versions of when the fire started. The items said freedom way road. I could not from the stories or pictures tell which part of freedom way this was Can we get to report matters correctly
first correct your english then you will get the report.
Hope you know where Juldan is, if you live in Lusaka. If not, I don’t know how you expect to know?
Terribly we must for sure be serious about bringing our country to a normal functional position. I really considering coming back to join politics and influence change even at ward level. We seem to be too backward in even these times of social economic and technological advancement.
you will have to face the depression of trying to adjust to this pathetic standard of living we have before you can pick yourself up and be useful.
Firefighters are rendered useless to any building in Z. We block access to hydrants. As a result the fire engines have to go back to Kafue River to fetch water instead of the fighters connecting a hose to a few metres away. And all the grill gates and burglar bars! The only way to enter is to cut those first. But how does one bring a cutting torch to cut metal in a balzing fire? Leave the firewomen alone.
the chap is a corrupt womanizer who has no time to deal with real issues the city is facing. how many years in the seat??? how much positive contribution???? SHAME
Who are you talking about, mune?
emergency preparedness?
they have become the on lookers
48 years after independence,we cant even stop a fire..shameful indeed.Can someone please tell me if the emergency toll free lines do work in Zambia,ie 911.
They did an admirable job considering the resources at hand.
I wouldn’t trust them though to even walk my dog, even at gunpoint.
Thanks
This is the ONLY (firefighter) job under constant criticism and yet never improving…!!! do they have a boss, ok maybe we don’t understand them can they sensitize the public on how the handle issues.
Sorry for the Loss, its hard earned money indeed.
KAUNDA TO BLAME BECAUSE AFTER INDEPENDENCE HE MADE SURE THAT THERE WAS NO FIRE BRIGADE OPERATING IN ZAMBIA. IN THE SCHOOLS FIRE DRILLS WERE TAUGHT BUT KAUNDA THE WISEST MAN THAT EVER LIVED ON THE FACE OF EARTH MADE AN END TO IT. AT LEAST YOU SHOULD THANK GOD FOR MMD.
Why is PF setting everything on fire? We never used to read these stuff during RB. Now people, cars, shops are on fire. Next time it will be all country.
Faulty electrical outlets from China, is what I suspect. A big sign of failure on testing imports on the part of the government agencies if at all any. Where are the UNZA graduates? Oh i forgot…at the Golf club as Field Ruwe put it. Burglar bars and grill doors have now become death traps. Failed police force. People with constructive analysis of the state of the nation are labelled as “Bitter”. Oh wow. Property insurance probably out of rich for most people. Bank loans at usury rates. Cost of doing business is highest in South Africa. Wow…politicians talking about why someone shaves his hair…oh because he wants to hide his age. Meanwhile no one is addressing such shortfalls in the economy..oh wow.