Water crisis caused fire fighters to fail to put off fire at a house

Water crisis in Bulawayo is reported to be affected fire fighting activities in the city amid indications some properties have been wiped away by fires as the fire fighters could failed to extinguish the infernos due to the problem.

The developments emerged during full council meeting when Councillor Gideon Mangena narrated an incident in his ward where a house was burnt to the ground while a water tender dispatched in response to the distress call could not assist as it had no water to douse the fire.

"The water tender in question had to wait for a water bowser/carrier which, when it finally arrived, it was already too late to save the property. This in his view, was a disturbing situation which called for an investigation/explanation," reads the latest council minutes.

In response the Chairman of the Environmental Management and Engineering Services Committee Councillor Silas Chigora said the water tender was first on site because it was generally faster, but it usually carried a limited amount of water-enough to douse relatively small fires.

"However there was provision to connect to fire hydrants which were dotted throughout the city. This Water Tender was usually followed by a Water Carrier which would be harnessed as necessary or where there was hydrant failure due to vandalism or water shedding as was the case in this instance," he said.

"It was not true that the fire tender had no water when it responded to this particular call. However there was evidence that the emergency call was
reported late to the fire station."