Fatima Bulla and George Chiduku
Household property worth thousands of United States dollars went up in smoke after a raging fire gutted a furniture shop in central Harare yesterday afternoon.

The cause of the fire is yet to be established.

Refrigerators, stoves, sofas, beds and wardrobes were among the items reduced to ash in the inferno. No one was injured. Harare provincial police spokesperson Inspector James Sabau said they were yet to receive a full report on the incident.

Coloursell Furniture Shop manager Mr Anywin Tsepelo suspected the fire was a result of an electrical fault.
“I actually do not know what caused the fire. However, it might be a direct result of an electrical fault,” he said.

The shop owner’s cousin, Mr Doubt Mharadze, who runs a clothing retail outlet nearby, said he smelt smoke at around 3pm. He discovered the fire had engulfed the shop after further investigations.
“We do not know how the fire started. In panic, we removed wares from our shop, fearing the fire would spread.

“We also contacted the Fire Brigade,” he said.
Soon after reports of the inferno spread, crowds gathered outside the shop with looters attempting to salvage smouldering electrical gadgets.

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The rowdy crowds were dispersed after police descended on them. When The Sunday Mail visited the scene, the Fire Brigade was still battling to put out the    fire.

Their efforts were dented by leaking water pipes from their tanks. Harare City Fire Brigade assistant division officer Mr Joseph Rupiya also lamented the absence of fire hydrants nearby.

“We got water from Harare Central Police Station, which is quite a distance from here. We always require water supplements from hydrants as our vehicles do not carry sufficient water,” he said.
“We have not yet managed to ascertain the cause of the fire as we arrived as the roof was already caving in.”