Fire guts Masese slum
Residents of Masese I in Jinja City southern division had a nightmarish 8am alarm clock in form of inferno as fire gutted eight homes on Monday.
The incident happened in Kibugambaata slum in Masese where fire reduced eight wooden houses to ashes.
According to witnesses, the fire started at around 8am in one of the shacks before it spread to the neighbourhood due to the highly flammable nature of the wooden structures.
No lives were lost, and no injuries were sustained in the incident however households items worth millions of cash were destroyed by the inferno.
Kiira Regio Police fire brigade swiftly responded, but the fire truck could not access the area due to the poor nature of the setting with no access-way.
Locals, in collaboration with the fire rescue and prevention service team, resorted to using rudimentary methods to put out the fire.
The actual cause of the fire is yet to be established.
According to Kiira Region Police spokesperson James Mubi, preliminary findings indicate the fire outbreak could have resulted from the illegal power connection or unattended to charcoal stove (sigiri).
“The actual cause of the fire is yet to be determined. However, it could have been a result of illegal power connection or unattended to charcoal stove," Mubi said.
Mubi said the concerns of illegal power connections are drawn to the attention of relevant local leaders in the areas to discourage and report all those involved in illegal power theft.
“Report all those who involve in illegal power connections without fear or favour because the possible consequences of the bad practice involves loss of life and property and loss of government revenue,” Mubi said.
“Power theft also leads to poor infrastructure in the country and increased cost of production for factories or businesses that need huge power consumption,” he said.
Police called on city authorities to design and advocate for proper housing schemes in such areas with no proper access routes for emergency trucks to avoid putting the blame to police.
“Proper access routes are needed to avoid blames on police especially by self seeking politicians who tend to utter baseless statements with intent to tarnish police image,” Mubi noted.
