An electrical fault has been blamed for the fire that engulfed the Treger Group plastic processing plant in the Thorngrove Industrial area in Bulawayo on Sunday evening.
According to Bulawayo City Council (BCC) acting chief fire officer, Linos Phiri the fire which originated from the recycling plant destroyed three recycling machines, five bailers, 20 tonnes of stock of finished and raw material generators and a forklift.
Phiri said an alert security guard who was manning the premises alerted the fire Brigade.
“Mr Smart Moyo, a security guard indicated that he is the one who phoned the brigade after being told by one security guard about the fire. He indicated that he had to rush to the scene of the fire to check if it was true and rushed back to the office which is about a kilometre away to phone the brigade. He also indicated that there was a night shift which was at work the previous day and knocked off on Sunday morning,” said Phiri.
He said when the fire brigade arrived on the scene the recycling plant was already on fire.
“There was a lot of machinery, bags of plastic in the affected building. Motor vehicles of different types and sizes were parked near the burning building and were all saved,” said Phiri.
He added that heaps of used tyres and plastic ready for recycling were scattered around the building causing a high risk of fire spread.
“The Brigade observed that fire started from a recycling machine and spread to other parts of the plant. The brigade observed that the steel roof was subjected to intense heat for a long time resulting in deforming and collapsing,” said the acting chief fire officer.
“The brigade used three hose reels and five jets from water tender three and emergency tender three respectively. Water supply augmented from carrier one and three fire hydrants. The brigade firstly used a defensive mode tactic with two hose reels protecting an above-ground diesel fuel tank with a capacity of 30 000 litres. When sources of consistent water supply were secured the brigade adopted an offensive mode and successfully confined the fire,” said Phiri.
The latest fire incident comes two days after Africa Life Building in the city centre caught fire due to an electrical fault on the 13th floor.
