Firefighters deal with fire on Nico House in Blantyre

Blantyre City Council fire brigade were tackling a fire in Nico House in Blantyre City on Friday.

The cause of the fire is not yet known but an employee of Nico says there’re renovations at NBS bank which is also housed in Nico House.

The fire started from third floor.

Everyone was  evacuated from Nico House and  section of the highway from Petroda Filling Station through Escom House was closed.

According to witnesses, the BCC Fire Brigade struggled to reach the top floor which was engulfed in fire because they had no ladders to reach the floor while the fire engines had little water carrying capacity, and had to be repeatedly driven off to be refilled.

BCC chief fire officer Prescot Sailas on Friday conceded: “Despite facing challenges we managed to successfully put out the fire.”

Nico House also houses Shifa Private Hospital. Patients were  evacuated.

The cause of the fire was not known at this stage.