Niël Terblanché
THE fire truck, used to battle the blaze that destroyed a shopping complex in the central business district of Katima Mulilo, was damaged almost beyond repair when firefighters parked the vehicle too close to the flames.
The vehicle caught fire and firefighters had to save their vehicle before they could tackle the blaze raging through the shopping centre.
According to a bystander, besides having to battle the blaze in the building with damaged equipment the efforts of the Katima Mulio Fire Brigade were further hampered by a water shortage in the town council’s supply infrastructure.
The witness to the disastrous set of events said the firefighters could only use water stored in the reserve tank of the damaged fire truck before having to abandon their efforts to battle the fire in the building because there was no water available in the fire hydrants.
The actual cause of the fire in the Shoprite building has not been established yet but it is believed that a short circuit caused by an interruption in the supply of electricity during Wednesday night could have ignited the devastating inferno.
