Shopping malls engulfed in fire in Yambio town [©Gurtong]
By Nashion Joseph
YAMBIO, 26th January 2012 [Gurtong] – A fire outbreak burnt a number of shopping malls and business premises in Yambio town, Western Equatoria State yesterday. The flames spread to some of the adjacent houses accidentally.
Gurtong spoke to a businessman who was watching helplessly and said that the source of the fire was not clear, others say it was from a nearby burning dumpsite, others claim that its magical work attributed to the need of development or might have been an arsonist.
The mysterious fire accident left some Ugandan nationals in tears due to loss of property burnt to ashes and to make it worse, the fire brigade was nowhere to respond and contain the situation therefore leaving the poor foreigners homeless.
Members of the public were annoyed due to the fact that the State had non-functional fire extinguishing teams on standby. The locals used their own methods to put out the fire while wondered how disastrous the scenario would have been if the small business community were not united the fire would have engulfed a big number of shops.
In an interview with the fire brigade master, their water- truck got spoilt 3 month ago and was looking forward to repairing. His sentiments raised big questions on how the State is prepared in case of fire accidents.