Another ‘fire’ guts Gono warehouse

Fire gutted a warehouse at Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono’s poultry plot in Borrowdale, Harare, yesterday, destroying goods valued at over US$100 000.

The warehouse – which housed delicate hatchery equipment – caught fire in the morning and concerted efforts by the Fire Brigade and workers helped in putting out the fire before it reached fuel tanks about 30 metres away.

The cause of the fire, which took the Fire Brigade more than two hours to extinguish, was unknown although it was suspected workers in the warehouse might have started it accidentally. Compressors for hatcheries that were awaiting installation were destroyed together with other valuables stored in the warehouse.

The fire began at about 9:30am and was put out by 12:30pm. Dr Gono and his family were said to be away when the fire started. Witnesses say the Fire Brigade came to the scene with inadequate water that failed to contain the inferno.

The Fire Brigade has come under fire of late for failing to respond timeously to distress calls and for being ill-equipped. Workers at the plot and neighbours battled to quell it and the Fire Brigade then ended up using water from the plot’s dam.

The Herald has it on good authority that the most reliable fire truck at the Harare Fire Station was bought in 1973. In an interview, Dr Gono bemoaned council’s poor and old fire equipment urging the corporate world to assist in procuring more effective and new equipment to avoid further losses.

“From the information I got, the equipment they brought here was the latest one and it was acquired in the early 1970s. If we do not do something about our city fire brigade, we will always have problems.

“Fortunately we have a dam here and they had to connect their pipes from the dam after they ran out of water,” he said.