K70m of goods were destroyed in gutted Luchenza Chipiku Shop
Fire believed to have been caused by an electrical fault gutted a Chipiku Stores Shop at Luchenza on Saturday night where almost all the items were destroyed in the inferno.
According to the shops guard, Peter Mendulo, the electricity main switch in the shop had a fault which has been there for a long time.
“I have worked here for two years and I found this problem. My manager knew about it and had been making some efforts to fix it but nothing happened to date,” said Mendulo.
The guard said each time there was electricity; the main switch could produce a clicking sound and would then switch off until someone switches it on again.
“Until last night when the same thing happened with the main switch, fire erupted from the switch and spread so fast that people who came to rescue some items failed to do so. Even a biscuit was not rescued here, the fire was too fierce,” he said.
Precious Viyona, the shop’s Manageress, said the building had a long standing electric fault on the main switch which was being reported to head office now and again.
She said it was difficult to put the fire off with the people who came to help because the keys for the shop were kept by the police.
“It was too late for us to open the shop to rescue the items. We have lost everything,” said the Manageress.
She said the shop had goods worth about K70 million which were all destroyed in the fire.
I blame the police officers who came to the scene drunken and holding bottles of beer.their judgement was paralysed because they were chasing people who were willing to help put the fire out when it was just beginning.that fire could have been put out and millions saved had it not been for the officers who were shooting their guns in the air to chase away people in the name of security. What was better? ; kuteteza katundu kuti anthu asabe Koma apsyelele ndi moto anthu akuona, ndikuti mukanawalola anthu azimise moto Koma katundu wina ngat yemwe anali ku stores asapsye… Read more »
Precious Viyona, the shop’s Manageress, said the building had a long standing electric fault on the main switch which was being reported to head office now and again.
Mabwana ngati amenewa onyalanyaza sakufunika mma kampani athu…surprisingly they will walk free…that’s my Malawi
That’s what you reap for negligence……warning signs have been there but nobody took time to heed!!
You may remember there was a fire drill by the Blantyre Red Cross a few weeks ago. It took the Red Cross; Fire Dept and Police an average time of 23 minutes to arrive at the scene. I pointed out that while the effort was very good, there is room for a lot of improvement because it takes about 3 minutes for a fire to become uncontrollable. Authorities have only a 3 minute window (from the time fire started) to save property and life. The Chipiku Lunchenza fire is a very good model for this reality.