“Disband Kwekwe fire department its useless”: residents rage as bus is reduced to a shell at bus terminus

By Staff Reporter

Restive residents in Kwekwe have called for a total disbandment of the city’s fire department, which they have described as, “pathetically useless” following another shoddy perfomance in failing to extinguish a Good Ridders Cross Border bus which caught fire at Kwekwe’s bus termini in the early hours of Friday.
The bus was reduced to a shell, and fortunately no-one was on board when the inferno broke out.
Ironically Kwekwe’s fire department is some few metres from where the inferno occured.
When the fire tender arrived at the scene it allegedly it didnt have water, as have now become the norm with the city’s fire tender.
In some videos circulating on social media, angry residents, some vendors and touts, mobbed the fire-tender driver after it was established that the fire tender didnt have water.
“Kwekwe City’s fire department is the most useless departments in the city. Ever since we have been experiencing fire outbreaks there isnt any fire which they have succesfully managed to put out. The fire tender always arrives at the scene without water, if not so the pump would be dead, or any other mechanical fault this is totally unacceptable,” an angry resident said at the scene.
While some residents are calling for a total disbandment of the department.
“Its better they disband this department because its pathetically useless. People are paying their fire levies on their bills but with this lack of service there is no justification of continuing to keep the department,” another residents fumed.
Recently Calvary Sports Bar in Kwekwe’s populous surburb of Amaveni was reduced to ashes after it caught fire, and again the local authority failed to put out the fire.
“This is now becoming a habit ,” a dejected Amaveni councillor Edu Makomborero Mlambo said in an interview.
“I was at my place when i received a call that Calvary was on fire and i was told people had made frantic efforts to contain the flames but to no avail. Kwekwe City Fore Department was informed and when the fire tender initially arrived it did not have water, and it had to be driven back to town, while the fire was continuing. When it came back for the second time, the pump failed,” he said.
Mlambo is a disturbed man.
“Residents every month are paying for fire levy, but as a city if we are failing to provide that service when the need arise i dont think we would be doing justice to our rate payers. This is a huge loss and who is going to compensate for this loss. We also lost Amaveni Tarven in the same manner,” he said.
Typically the fire tender according to Makomborero failed to put out a fire at a house in Amaveni recently.
“Here in Amaveni, the same fire department failed to put out a frire which had broken out at a house in Amaveni. We have a fire department but daily we are losing properties, people in the city are losing their valuables,” he said.
What caused the fire-
According to Mlambo the cause is yet to be ascertained.
But he encouraged the community not to make illegal electricty connections.
Last month a property beloning to former Kwekwe Town Clerk Joseph Bere went up in smoke.
Charles Bere the son to Joseph expressed his unhappiness with the fire department.
“Here in Chicago we had a fire problem, our cottage was gutted down by a raging fire. I am unhappy with the response from the authorities. We didnt get a good respinse from authorities. When the fire broke out i was near Kwekwe Central Police Station. I didnt get assistance, their fire contact on their notice board is nolonger in use.
“Through sheer luck we managed to locate Kwekwe City fire department, we didnt get an immidiate response from the department. When they finally responded and when they arrived at the scene, within five minutes they had run out of water. When they finally arrived the cottage had already been destroyed,” he said.
Bere said what is more saddening is that the hydrants which must supply water are blcoked.
Then the former Mayor Henry Madzorera who had attended the scene before his recall from council said the shambolic systems at the fire department must be addressed as a matter of urgency.
“In terms of response, our city is very bad. We cannot be a city wihtout a functional fire department, We cant be a city with faulty fire tenders, and we cant be a city were our firemen do not know the hydrants in the city or the hydrants are blocked, This issue must be addressed as a matter of urgency,” he said then.
Kwekwe Mayor Albert Zinhanga has called for calm from residents in the aftermath of the fire.
“We would like to acknoweldge all the complaints and frustration from residents regarding the bus incident that happened earlier today. It is indeed regrettable. We want to assure you residents that we are going to get to the bottom of the issue. We feel your anger, your pain, your frustration. We are busy compiling reports from different stakeholders regarding this incident. As soon as we finish we will inform you residents. We have the duty to protect properties in the city. We will not hide behind the fingure. All iwant to appeal from you for now is to allow the process so that we find where the problem is and we correct the problem. We cannot allow the situation to repeat itself,” said Zinhanga.