Property worthmillions of francs was lost when fire gutted a commercial building in Musanze town on Sunday night, reducing three shops to ashes. The building was located in Muhoza Sector, Musanze, according to Police.There were no deaths or injuries reported. One of the shops sold gas products which, according to eye witnesses, might have made the fire spread faster. “I heard a loud blast and when I got out I realised the building was in flames. We tried to put out the fire in vain,” Julienne Nzamurambaho, an eye witness, said. Police arrived two hours later, only managing to stop the fire from spreading to other buildings. Chief Inspector of Police Andre Hakizimana said investigations were ongoing to ascertain the cause of the fire. He said the building was not insured and urged the business community to embrace property insurance to avoid counting losses in case of such incidents. He also urged owners of buildings to install fire detectors on their premises. Nicodeme Ndikubwimana, the owner of the building, said insurance cover for his structure expired a year ago. Fire incidents were rampant last year in the country and were mostly blamed on short circuits. In November, another fire gutted a commercial building in the same district. Fire outbreaks last year prompted government to issue safety regulations under the Prime Minister’s instructions. The instructions meant to prevent fire outbreaks at public buildings, public spaces, national parks, forests, as well as transport and storage facilities were expected to come into force in January. A compliance report released in January showed that line institutions such as Rwanda Housing Authority, Rwanda National Police, Ministry of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Rwanda Bureau of Standards, and the Ministry of Local Government had made progress in enforcing the rules. The institutions had put in place a fire safety check list to be used for new and existing buildings, and put in place fire safety inspection teams in all provinces as well as trained them.
