Residents of Roko Village in Jinja Municipality are counting losses after fire gutted several houses destroying property worth millions of shillings.
The fire broke out at around 3:00 am on Friday night and affected 15 houses destroying property including merchandise, domestic items and buildings were razed down in the inferno that lasted more than two hours.
According to eyewitnesses, the source of the fire was a charcoal stove that was left burning through the night. The witnesses said a spark from the stove started the fire that later spread causing enormous damage to property.
Police Fire fighters arrived later and extinguished the fire but a lot of property had been lost.
The residents however blamed the police fire department for failure to respond in time saying the property would have been saved.
“Imagine we reported this case to police immediately after the fire started, but we were told fire brigade vehicles were not available at that time. Why do we pay taxes?” One angry resident asked.
It took fire fighters more than 40 minutes to arrive at the scene according to eye witneeses some of whom lost property in the inferno.
Musa Mwidhu, another resident states that the fire brigade arrived when most of the property had perished in the fire.
However, Collins Agaba Kiira Regional fire officer said police fire vehicles are undergoing periodic maintenance and will be ready by monday. he said the officers did their best to stop the fire but also noted that their capacity to respond immediately is limited by resources and access to some sites.