PROPERTY worth ZWL$15 million was destroyed when a house in Pelandaba, Bulawayo, caught fire on Friday night.
Bulawayo acting chief fire officer Linos Phiri said the fire was suspected to have been caused by an electrical fault and possible overloading of electrical circuits in the house occupied by six families.
“According to the occupants, the electricity usually trips, but restores automatically. There was a possibility of overloading of the electrical circuits of the entire house in general, and also the single electrical socket in the room where the fire originated,” he said.
Phiri said when fire fighters arrived at the house, they observed that the fire was mainly concentrated in one room and had spread to another room through a wooden door.
“There were LP (liquefied petroleum) gas cylinders, overloaded sockets, car tyres and wheels kept on the roof of the house which further fuelled the fire,” he said.
“Damaged goods were pegged at ZWL$15 million, with the value of the property at ZWL$75 million, thus, at least ZWL$60 million worth of property was saved.”
In a space of two weeks, Bulawayo has encountered about four major fire incidents which included the Mutize flea market, where property worth US$500 000 went up in smoke and an inferno at a panel beating garage in Mzilikazi where 15 cars were burnt and millions worth of property destroyed.
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