Fire destroys over 10 kiosks in Iganga

Property worth millions of shillings has been destroyed in a fire destroying about ten kiosks along Kaliro road in the Northern division in Iganga District on Monday morning.

The fire broke out at around 5:00 am but the Fire Brigade received the first call at 5.48 am and till the first fire tender reached the spot, the shops were under a raging blaze.

Hamisi Katwala, who witnessed the fire, says it was sparked off by a loose connection on a fan. He says the owners but found it difficult to put out the fire because of the congestion.

Jane Nabirye is one of the traders who lost all his merchandise in the fire. She wondered how she was going to service a loan she had just acquired to stock up her boutique.

Locals claimed the fire was caused by a short circuit in one of the shops before spreading to other parts of the building.

“We heard an alarm made by one of the people at the burnt shop them put out the fire but we could not do much since the fire was too much” he added

"We tried to help but we were overwhelmed by the fire,” said one of the first responders when the fire started.

Also affected was a dental equipment shop where nearly nothing was saved.

Another shop that had stocked motorcycle tires barely had anything to show while the shop which contained the liquor had a few bottles of the Vodka and Whisky still simmering.

The fire brigade struggled to put out the fire until their trucks ran out of water.

The Busoga East police spokesperson, James Mubi said detectives are yet to confirm the cause of the fire.

He said that police failed to save the property but they managed to control the fire from spreading to other shops and stopped those that attempted to steal the property.

"We are investigating allegations that the fire could have been as a result of a short circuit which is expected to have been caused an illegal connection in one of the shops," he said.