News / Local
2 vehicles go up in smoke at garage
27 May 2014 at 05:52hrs | Views
Two vehicles were yesterday reduced to shells after one of them caught fire while decanting fuel at a Bulawayo service station.
It took more than two hours for the Fire Brigade to put out the fire which engulfed a Toyota Hiace and a Mazda B1800.
The incident occurred at AD Petroleum, located at corner Fife Street and 3rd Avenue.
The Bulawayo chief fire officer, Richard Peterson said the fire could have been caused by the unorthodox way of decanting fuel.
"They were using a make shift pump to transfer fuel from the kombi to an underground tank. We suspect the fire could have been caused by the pump as it could have heated up in the process," he said.
Peterson said the fuel was not from a reputable supplier as no reputable supplier could use a kombi to deliver fuel.
He said after the incident the suppliers of the fuel disappeared leaving them with more questions than answers.
Peterson urged members of the public to desist from keeping petrol and diesel in their homes.
"If residents know anyone keeping fuel at home they should report the person to the police because we will continue attending to such fires," he said.
Admire Gomera, who rents the fuel station said he did not know what caused the fire.
"We had run out of fuel and we decided to get 2,000 litres from our business partners.
"I have no idea what caused the fire. I was not here when the fire started," he said.
The owner of the garage George Parkin said he was in the dark regarding the incident.
The inferno drew a huge crowd resulting in riot police being called to control the people who wanted to catch a glimpse of the burning cars thereby disturbing the fire fighters in the process.
It took more than two hours for the Fire Brigade to put out the fire which engulfed a Toyota Hiace and a Mazda B1800.
The incident occurred at AD Petroleum, located at corner Fife Street and 3rd Avenue.
The Bulawayo chief fire officer, Richard Peterson said the fire could have been caused by the unorthodox way of decanting fuel.
"They were using a make shift pump to transfer fuel from the kombi to an underground tank. We suspect the fire could have been caused by the pump as it could have heated up in the process," he said.
Peterson said the fuel was not from a reputable supplier as no reputable supplier could use a kombi to deliver fuel.
He said after the incident the suppliers of the fuel disappeared leaving them with more questions than answers.
Peterson urged members of the public to desist from keeping petrol and diesel in their homes.
"If residents know anyone keeping fuel at home they should report the person to the police because we will continue attending to such fires," he said.
Admire Gomera, who rents the fuel station said he did not know what caused the fire.
"We had run out of fuel and we decided to get 2,000 litres from our business partners.
"I have no idea what caused the fire. I was not here when the fire started," he said.
The owner of the garage George Parkin said he was in the dark regarding the incident.
The inferno drew a huge crowd resulting in riot police being called to control the people who wanted to catch a glimpse of the burning cars thereby disturbing the fire fighters in the process.
Source - chronicle
