Kampala, Uganda | URN | A devastating fire has gutted Wandegeya Police Barracks, destroying property. The fire, which started on Thursday evening at around 4:30 pm, razed more than 10 makeshift housing units in the barracks, leaving police officers counting losses.
Didan Nuwaleba, a Police Constable attached to Wandegeya Police Station who managed to rescue his two-year-old baby, said all his household property was reduced to ashes.
He said the fire, which is suspected to have been caused by an electrical fault, started from one unit made of iron sheets and quickly spread to other units before it crossed the fence and gutted part of the offices of the Food and Agriculture Organization -FAO.
He said although Police Fire Brigade responded quickly, the fire was intense and little could be saved.
“There’s nothing we could save apart from the roadside area where it had not reached,” Nuwaleba said. “But for us on the upper side of the barracks, we couldn’t save anything apart from our lives. I was lucky to rescue my baby whose mother had left with me.”
Daniel Wele, a chicken seller operating opposite the barracks who was among the first responders, said most officers were not in the barracks at the time of the fire, while those who were inside ran out in shock due to the intensity of the fire.
He said they had to break one side of the fence and started pulling out mattresses and other items they could save from the side the fire had not yet reached.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Myers Byonanebye, who is in charge of fire rescue operations in Kampala and commanded the operation, said they responded in time, but unfortunately little could be saved for their colleagues at Wandegeya Police Barracks.
He said the exact cause of the fire is not yet clear and investigations will establish it, but he did not rule out an electrical fault, noting that it is one of the leading causes of fires.
“There was no life lost,” Byonanebye. “We have been able to put it out, but it was too much. In one or two days we shall be able to know the cause of the fire. But I can confirm that there was no life lost.”
By press time, police officers were still stranded outside the barracks, some pondering where to go, some with children and a few salvaged items, while others had sought refuge with colleagues whose units were spared.
This is not the first fire outbreak in police barracks in the Kampala Metropolitan Area. Similar outbreaks have previously occurred in Nsambya and Ntinda police barracks, upsetting officers.
Although Inspector General of Police Abas Byakagaba has been working to improve accommodation for police, several barracks within the Kampala Metropolitan Area remain in a sorry state.
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