Property worth thousands destroyed by fire in Gweru

PROPERTY worth thousands of dollars was destroyed when a multi-purpose flat situated at corner Leopold Takawira Avenue and Main Street in Gweru Central Business District was gutted by fire on Friday.

Occupants of the flat were trapped on their flats' balconies for close to 30 minutes before they were rescued.

They were trapped because the fire started from the only exit point at the flat.

When news crew arrived at the scene at about 12 noon, the firefighters were still battling to contain the fire which had gutted the flats entire first floor.

One of the witnesses, Mr Nixon Mpasiri said the fire broke out from one of the rooms near the exit point before it quickly spread to other rooms.

He said some of the trapped occupants had to jump from the first floor to the ground as the fire gutted the whole first floor.

"The problem is that there is only one exit point at the flat and the fire emanated from that exit point resulting in the occupants being trapped on their balconies and some had to jump to safety he said. Mr Mpasiri said only property from one room on the first floor was salvaged.

The city's Chief Fire Officer, Mr Emmanuel Musemwa said the fire was as a result of an electrical fault from one of the rooms at the block of flats.

He said the fire fighting team managed to put out the fire but not before it had destroyed six rooms on the floor.

"There was only one room which was saved on the first floor as the rest and property inside were destroyed. We managed to contain the fire before it could spread to the ground floor where there are supermarkets," he said. Mr Musemwa could not ascertain the value of property destroyed.