- outbreak cause yet to be established
Police investigations are ongoing to establish the cause of a fire that gutted Woolworths, Pep and Clicks stores at Hunters Mall in Kasane recently. Suspicions are however that the fire was as a result of an electric fault.
The incident is reported to have occurred last week Thursday at around 1900hours in the evening, and police received the report from security guards who were on duty at that mall after being alerted by a lady who witnessed the fire while using the nearest ATM.
Confirming the incident Kasane Police Station Commander, Superintendent James Maabong said together with the Chobe District Council Fire Department, they rushed to the scene where upon arrival the fire had already started ravaging properties inside the Woolworths storeroom.
Maabong said through their collaboration with the Fire Department they managed to put off the fire before it could destroy more goods of the affected shops. According to him, the three shops that were destroyed share the same block and the fire is reported to have started in the Woolworths storeroom before spreading to Clicks and Pep Stores.
The fire is said to have burnt to ashes all the goods which were reserved for sale inside Woolworths storeroom while the whole ceilings of the entire block was also burnt down resulting in destruction of goods of the three shops that were already displayed for sale.
“We don’t know what could have caused the fire but we suspect that there was an electric fault at Woolworths storeroom, however our investigations are still on-going establish what could have caused the fire outbreak,” the police boss said, noting that estimated loss caused by the fire is still yet to be confirmed.
Maabong has since urged members of the public to react and act responsibly when they see a fire outbreak noting that due to the fact that the Police and Fire Department were able to react swiftly to the incident they managed to play a significant role in controlling the fire.
Maabong has also encouraged members of the public to avoid overcrowding at scenes of such incidents indicating that could disturb those people trained for the job.
