Bystanders blocked fire brigade trucks as fire raged in Harare CBD
The City of Harare has blamed a crowd and shop owners for the late response by the fire brigade in putting out a fire that engulfed a building at the corner of Cameroon Street and Fidel Castro Road (formerly Charter) on Wednesday afternoon.
In a statement, the local authority said anti-riot police were later deployed to the scene to disperse a “big crowd” that had gathered there and had blocked firefighters from accessing the building.
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It also said that when the fire started, the shop owners did not immediately alert the fire brigade. The City of Harare said:
There was a huge fire at a shop at the corner of Cameroon Street and Fidel Castro Road (formerly Charter) which started just before 2 p.m.
The property was extensively damaged. Our fire brigade was initially blocked from accessing the building by a big crowd gathered there.
The firefighters had to engage Anti-riot police to disperse the crowd.
The firemen then accessed the building after some time and by then the fire had caused extensive damage.
The fire brigade however managed to control the fire.
It also turns out that the shop owners took time to inform the fire brigade of the fire, judging by the amount of goods they managed to take out before the fire escalated.
What caused the fire is still a subject of investigation by the fire brigade team.
The City would want to warn residents against blocking our firefighters from doing their work.
It is also dangerous for people to go so close to such fire situations.
On Thursday, Harare Mayor His Worship Cllr Ian Makone visited the building that was destroyed by the fire and spoke to some of the owners.
The Fire Department is still investigating what caused the fire which destroyed property worth millions of dollars.
