.Chenda

By CHUSA SICHONE –

FIRE has left a family of six in Chongwe District homeless and all their belongings worth thousands of Kwacha reduced to ashes after it gutted their three bedroomed house.
Local Government and Housing Minister Emmanuel Chenda, who rushed to the scene yesterday morning, however, assured the Munukayumbwa family that he would report the matter to Vice-President Guy Scott for possible assistance through the Disaster Management and Mitigation
Unit (DMMU).
The fire started after a suspected short circuit from a generator the family was using following load shedding that was experienced twice on Tuesday in the area. A victim, Martha Munukayumbwa told journalists that the fire started between 11:00 hours and 12:00 hours on Tuesday from one of the bedrooms while she was in the garden.
“When I alerted my husband about the fire, he quickly rushed into the house and switched off the power. It was at that point that the fire grew in the bedroom, attracting the attention of our neighbours
who came to help us besides informing the Fire Brigade in Chongwe.
“They came with a fire tender which had no water. That then prompted the neighbours to call the Fire Brigade in Lusaka. By the time the Fire Brigade from Lusaka was arriving, the fire had spread to all parts of the house,” she said.
Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo II, who had alerted Mr Chenda and Chongwe Member of Parliament Sylvia Masebo about the fire, appealed to Mr Chenda to ensure that Government fully equipped the Fire Brigade in Chongwe besides imploring well wishers to come to the aid of the
Munukayumbwas.
She cautioned people against buying traditional land in Chongwe District without her consent as she would not be aware of their existence in her chiefdom as was the case with the Munukayumbwas.