THREE Harare City Council fire brigade trucks yesterday battled to extinguish a fire that razed a dumpsite at the Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company premises close to the Harare Thermal Power Station along Coventry Road.
However, Zesa public relations manager Fullard Gwasira said the company was not prejudiced as transformers which were burned in the inferno had been decommissioned.
He said the fire was sparked by a grinder which was being used to remove bolts from one of the disused transformers.
“We experienced a fire outbreak this afternoon as a result of workmanship by our staff who wanted to remove a bolt from a disused transformer,” Gwasira said.
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“In terms of value, we did not lose anything as the transformers had already been decommissioned. We were not prejudiced by the fire. There were no threats to other properties nearby and the fire did not threaten the generating of power.”
When NewsDay arrived, the fire brigade was trying to put out the fire that was engulfing the old transformers, used cables and vehicle wreckages that had been auctioned to workers.
Thick black smoke could be seen billowing as the fire brigade struggled to put out the fire for more than an hour after it broke out.
Of the three fire engines deployed at the station, two had run out of water while one had been connected to a pool inside the thermal power station.
Zesa workers who spoke to NewsDay alleged the fire brigade brought fire tenders without water, while the other fire engine had a small hosepipe that failed to put out the fire.
One worker said the company was retrieving spare parts from some of the old transformers.