Uganda: Fire Razes British American Tobacco Store

Source from:  All Africa 01/18/2011

British American Tobacco Uganda (BATU) today lost an estimated shs23 billion when fire destroyed one of its stores in Kyambogo, a Kampala suburb. The company's Public Relations Officer, Mr Solomon Muyita, said more than two million kilograms of processed tobacco leaves had been stacked in the silo, awaiting shipment. The total value of the property lost in the inferno amounted to $10m (shs23b), Mr Muyita said. By this evening, Police were unsure what could have sparked the blaze that raged on for more than two hours from 1pm. "All the stores were closed and the place has a perimeter wall but we are trying to fight hard to prevent it from razing more stores," said Mr Simon Musoke, Uganda Police's chief fire officer. A BATU guard at the premises said the fire could have been caused by an electric spark. "This place has not been having electricity for some time, and the moment power came back, the fire started," he said, asking not to be named. Kampala East region Police commander, Mr Ivan Nkwasibwe, however speculated that the fire was likely sparked by the soaring heat resulting from over clogging the processed tobacco. He said investigation into the cause of the fire is going to be carried out. Tobacco leaves are highly inflammable, an official said, especially that in the store the bales of tobacco in the razed silo had been packed up to the roof. The store, one of the twenty in the same location owned by city tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia, was the one the cigarettes company used to keep tobacco for export. Euroflex, a mattress company, is one of the companies that operate stores at Mr Ruparelia's Kyambogo property. Mr Richard Esuguret, the firm's publicist, who was at the scene told this newspaper that the fire started at around 1pm and black smoke billowed into the skies over the industrial belt. Police fire fighters, supported by counterparts from Fire Masters and Pinnacle, reportedly arrived shortly after the fire broke out but battled the blaze for several hours. It is understood that the fire tenders ran out of water and it took the fire brigades quite some time to refill since there were no nearby hydrants. By press time, it was still smouldering at the store. At the scene, Mr Ruparelia stood motionless looking on as the BATU store was being brought down by the fire. The fire incidents are not new to Uganda. The Kyambogo incident, although it is the first reported fire case this year adds to a number of fire cases over the last three years. Just last year, fire consumed the Kasubi tombs destroying property worth millions. The St. Balikudembe market left business people stall-less and also property worth millions was destroyed. Several schools, including Budo Junior where a number of pupils were burnt to death, have also been razed by fires and Police is still investing the cases. Enditem