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Ivan Zhakata Herald Correspondent
City of Harare firefighters are still battling to extinguish the fire that gutted Paramount Acher, a leading garments manufacturer’s warehouse, last week on Monday.
The firefighters have contained the fire, but are failing to extinguish it because of lack of water and the company is hiring bulk water suppliers to provide water to the fire engines.
When The Herald visited the premises, the firefighters were still trying to put out the fire, while some workers were not working.
Addressing journalists, Paramount Garments group finance director Mr Jeremy Youmans said they had flammable materials in the warehouse and inadequate water supplies were hindering the efforts to extinguish the fire.
“The fire is fully contained, but is it not out because there is still combustible material in the warehouse and causing more heat,” he said.
“It (fire) is fully contained by the City of Harare fire brigade, but it is not extinguished yet so there is still a risk if we do not get that heat dissipated and get some of the combustible material out of the way.
“We do not know the cause of the fire and investigations will be done only when the place is declared safe to work and the experts will be employed by the relevant authorities to do their investigations.”
Mr Youmans said the fire could have been avoided and if enough water was provided to the fire engines it should have been extinguished.
He said they hoped to resume operations by the middle of January next year and they could only do so if they got financial support from their insurers.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter