The ManicaPost
Fungayi Munyoro Post Correspondent
PROPERTY worth thousands of dollars was destroyed when fire, whose origins are unclear, recently gutted a house in Mutare’s Fern Valley suburb.
When the fire broke out at around 8:30pm, there were 12 people in the house who escaped without injuries. Nothing was recovered and the value of the destroyed property has not yet been quantified.
The house was owned by Mr Boniface Jani and rented to Bishop Patson Muchuro of ZAOGA Church. Bishop Muchuro has been staying in the house for the past two years.
In an interview, Mr Jani who resides in Kwekwe, said he did not know the causes of the fire.
“I stay in Kwekwe and I was not there when this incident happened.
“I leased the house to Bishop Muchuro. I cannot comment on the cause of the fire, but I was told that the fire could have been caused by an electrical fault,” he said.
According to Mr Jani, the house is valued at $80 000 and was built in 2005.
In a telephone interview, Bishop Muchuro, said he had lost property worth thousands of dollars.
“We have lost property worth thousands of dollars.
“For now we do not know the exact value. We were in the lounge when we noticed smoke coming from one of the bedrooms.
“We rushed and tried to extinguish the fire using hosepipes, but all was in vain.
“We then called the Fire Brigade who swiftly responded, but nothing could be salvaged.
“The fire was finally contained after three days and no life was lost,” he said.
According to the Fire Brigade report accessed from the owner of the property, Bishop Muchuro indicated that one of the children could have started the fire in one of the rooms.
However, on further investigations, he indicated that the fire started from the roof of one of the bedrooms where the geyser was located, suggesting that it was an electrical fault.
The Fire Brigade officers who attended the scene concluded that it was unlikely that the fire was caused by an electrical fault. They said the fire could have started from unknown source in one of the rooms.
