A fire gutted local food outlet Fairy Café in the early hours of Wednesday morning, destroying property whose value is yet to be determined.
The cause of the blaze has not been established, but the Bulawayo Fire Brigade suspects that some equipment may have been left switched on overnight.
When a CITE news crew visited the scene, employees stood outside the premises, visibly distressed as they assessed the damage.
Bulawayo Chief Fire Officer Mhlangano Moyo said gas cylinders inside the building intensified the fire.
“Early this morning we received a distress call reporting a fire at Fairy Café at the corner of 13th Avenue and Fife Street. Upon arrival, we found the premises well alight, with the fire spreading in all directions and raging heavily,” Moyo said.
“We managed to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading to other sections of the building, so it was restricted to this shop. Investigations are still ongoing to establish the cause, but preliminary findings point to something that may have been left switched on, which ignited the property. The fire was fuelled by gas cylinders that were emitting gas.”
Moyo added that further investigations were under way, including an assessment of the building’s solar system.
“There were about 30 solar panels installed at the premises, and we are trying to ascertain whether they could have had any impact on the incident,” he said.
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