Story by Peter Chivhima
A storeroom at Sally Mugabe Hospital in Harare was gutted by fire this Saturday afternoon, with some records being destroyed in the blaze.
When the ZBC News crew arrived at the scene, the storeroom, which is housed atop the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, was still on fire, with the Harare City Council Fire Brigade battling to extinguish the flames.
Acting Assistant Chief Fire Officer for Harare City Council, Mr Moses Bvumavaranda, confirmed the swift response by his team.
“We received a fire report this morning and reacted swiftly. Within seven minutes, our team was already on the ground. That’s when we discovered the fire was quite serious, but we managed to extinguish it before it could spread further.”
Eyewitnesses recounted how they saw the fire and attempted to assist.
“I was washing in the laundry room when we saw the smoke coming, and we started shouting ‘fire, fire.’ But we are happy the fire brigade arrived on time.
“I also tried to help in extinguishing the inferno when I saw that this section was burning,” eyewitnesses said.
Hospital staff and officials, visibly shaken by the incident, deferred to Harare Mayor His Worship Councillor Jacob Mafume to address the media.
“We are currently at one of the buildings within the hospital, specifically on the rooftop. This location has been used as a storage area for institutional records, of which, according to law, all public institutions must keep permanently. These records were placed near or under solar panels about ten panels in total. Some of the records were also stored in the lab,” he said.
Civil Protection Department Chief Director, Mr Nathan Nkomo, said the government is committed to assist.
“What we do first is to write a report and present it to Cabinet because it is the highest decision entity. Upon getting the response, we’ll act, and it will be soon as you are aware that we have a listening President.”
Preliminary reports suggest the fire could have been caused by a fault in the solar system. Investigations are still underway.
The incident comes barely a week after small business owners operating in Harare’s downtown area had their wares gutted in a separate inferno. A few weeks ago, dormitories housing Form One and Two pupils at Churchill Boys High School were also reduced to ashes.
