Property worth over $37k goes up in smoke
PROPERTY worth over $37 000 was destroyed on Monday after two houses caught fire in Dulivhadzimo and Limpopo View suburbs in Beitbridge.
The Dulivhadzimo house caught fire from a candle, which one of the children at the house was using to study, while the cause of the fire at the other house in Limpopo View is still unknown.
Beitbridge Town Clerk Mr Loud Ramakgapola said no one was injured or killed in both incidents.
He said officials from the Fire and Emergency Services were investigating the two matters.
“The first incident occurred at around 1100 hours in Limpopo View suburb, where two rooms and the roof of the main house were extensively damaged together with property worth about $35 000,”he said.
“The cause of the fire is still unknown since there was no one at the house. At the Dulivhadzimo house, property worth close to $2 000 was destroyed, although the main superstructure was not affected.
“Indications are that a candle, which one of the children was using to study was left unattended and it fell on some books and papers that caught fire, which then spread across the room.
“In addition, some electrical gadgets were destroyed when neighbours tried to put out the fire with water before our fire fighters arrived”.
He said they were in the process of mobilising resources to construct a fire station.
He said a site had already been identified for the project.
“We are also looking at the possibility of constructing the fire station through a private public partnership concept,” said Mr Ramakgapola.
Recently, the local authority acquired a new fire tender from Britain through the Florian Project UK.
The fire tender has a bigger tank, which carries 1 000 litres of water and 45 litres of foam.
Further, the vehicle can carry five crew members. Prior to the latest acquisition, the town was relying on a small fire tender with a capacity to carry 450 litres of water mainly from hydrants.
A few months ago, property worth thousands of dollars was destroyed after the State warehouse was looted and burnt by hoodlums demonstrating against the implementation of Statutory Instrument 64, which removed specified goods from the open general imports licence (OGIL).
At least 35 cars that were around the State warehouse were also burnt.
About 71 people were arrested in connection with the matter
In November 2014, property worth millions of dollars was reduced to ashes when the main Zimbabwe Revenue Authority warehouse caught fire under unclear circumstances.
Though a crack team was set up by the revenue authority to look into the matter, results are yet to be released.