Fire Destroys Over 40 NRZ Coaches In Bulawayo
More than 40 decommissioned passenger coaches belonging to the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) were destroyed by a suspected veld fire at the company’s mechanical workshop in Bulawayo on Monday afternoon.
According to the Chronicle, the Bulawayo Fire Brigade took over four hours to contain the blaze, which began around 1 PM.
Fortunately, no deaths or injuries were reported, despite the rapid spread of the fire.
The fire brigade deployed six fire tenders to manage the situation and had to connect to the NRZ borehole system for additional water supply.
Mhlangano Moyo, the acting chief fire officer of the Bulawayo Fire Brigade, was present at the scene, said:
We had to bring water bowsers for more water to douse the fire, which preliminary investigations indicate could have been a veld fire that quickly spread and torched the passenger coaches.
When we got to the scene of the fire at the NRZ Mechanical Workshop, we found out that the fire had spread in all directions and several coaches were already alight.
We managed to contain the fire and the team will continue to monitor the situation on the ground. Investigations will continue.
NRZ public relations manager, Andrew Kunambura, said that the destroyed passenger coaches were decommissioned by the NRZ some time back but were still worth millions of dollars. Said Kunambura:
The fire destroyed multiple decommissioned coaches, which were awaiting to be disposed of in the form of scrap metal and the process to do that was already underway.
The fire broke out around lunchtime and we are not yet sure what caused the fire but we suspect that since a lot of people pass through this place, someone could have dropped a cigarette stub that ignited a veld fire.
The fire spread very fast and the City of Bulawayo Fire Brigade reacted very quickly and put out the fire.
Fortunately, none of our employees were injured and no death was recorded. Investigations are still underway and we will inform the nation on what exactly started the fire in due course.
The coaches might have been decommissioned but they remained valuable NRZ property and for as long as the NRZ can realise something out of the sale of the scrap metal, then the coaches remain important assets.
Zimbabwe faces significant challenges in dealing with fire outbreaks, particularly veld fires.
The country struggles with high-risk areas, especially during the dry season from July to October.
In 2023, veld fires affected over 858,000 hectares across 3,717 incidents.
More: Pindula News
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