Up to 120 million shillings worth of timber was destroyed in the fire that burnt down Hajji Mubiru Workshop in Bwaise industrial area in Kawempe Division in Kampala, on Friday morning.
More than 200 timber dealers, including Sheikh Siraje Mubiru, the proprietor of Hajji Mubiru Workshop, were affected by the fire.
Mubiru, with 8 years experience in timber business, says he left his business intact at around 8:00pm on Thursday, but only to receive a phone call from one of his workmates informing him of the fire.
According to Mubiru, by the time he reached the site there was nothing to save. He told URN that before the fire, he had installed eight new machines that work on timber designs and they also got burnt.
When URN reached the site early on Friday, Mubiru was found collecting the remains of his machines which looked like scraps.
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The doors, beds and timber that were in stock had all been reduced to ashes. Mubiru says some of the timber belonged to customers who had brought it to his workshop for designing.
He estimates his total loss to be around 120 million shillings, adding that his family of 10 people has been solely depending on the workshop.
Dirisa Ssebyala, a member of the Bwaise Industrial Area village committee, told URN that this is the 14th time in a period of less than 10 years that the vendors are being affected by the fire.
He recalls two other recent fires happening in July 2011, and in January 2012.
According to Ssebyala, the possible causes of fire in the area include the poor electricity wiring within the workshops, and the squeezing of both food vending stalls and the timber workshops in one place.
He also suspects business grudges among the vendors and the failure to pay business loans to some vendors, adding that they turn to setting their workshops ablaze as a solution to get sympathy from the banks.
Ssebyala says part of the solution in addressing fire problems in the area, is to improve the access roads so as to increase on the security within the area.
According to Ssebyala, there is need to have the landlords compensated before creating space for the access roads.
He says through the media the vendors have appealed to the central government to come to their rescue.
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There are approximately 3000 vendors operating in Bwaise Industrial Area.
