Huge fire guts factory at Sino-Uganda Mbale industrial park

A Tuesday night fire has gutted the Sino-Uganda factory in Mbale Industrial Park destroying property estimated to be up Uganda Shillings 90 billion ($25m). 

The fire is thought to have broken out at around 8:00pm on Tuesday night and raged into Wednesday morning. The Uganda Police’s fire brigade department struggled to put out the fire because of a lack of fire fighting facilities in the industrial park itself. 

Mbale City Resident Commissioner John Rex Acila explained that the fire was so hard to put out because of its severity as it gutted the mattress factory and lack of manpower. 

The inadequate manpower compelled the fire brigade department to request for reinforcement from Soroti and Tororo, as the fire continued to rage. 

Acila added that efforts to put out the fire were further slowed by the fact that the water bowsers had to leave the scene and travel 10 kilometres to the State Lodge and Bank of Uganda regional offices to refill. 

A shaken Bodhi Xu, the Sino Uganda Industrial Park admin, said they were not sure about the cause of the fire but that it is a huge blow. 

He said they had lost not just office equipment, machinery, raw materials but also in process and finished goods in the fire that claimed the factory and office premises. 

Sino-Uganda was just recovering a flood event that submerged parts of the park and destroyed property worth billions in August 2022. 

Grace Foam factory, which is the most affected, is said to employ at least 500 youth at various capacities since its launch in 2019. 

Investment minister Evelyn Anite said an order had been issued to construct fire fighting facilities in the park, in light of this incident. 

Mbale Industrial park has a total 30 factories.