A mysterious fire that razed down the Vuvula Poultry building in Chinatown yesterday sent shock waves through the popular shopping district.
Fire fighters arrived when the building was already covered in smoke and were incapable of putting it off.
Business owners in nearby buildings were on their feet as flames engulfed the Vuvula building.
“It could have been a huge and terrible disaster had the fire spread to other buildings,” one eye-witness, John Tome, said.
Fortunately for Chinatown, the Vuvula building, which housed Vuvula Poultry Ltd and a shop at the ground floor, and accommodation on the top floor, was a stand-alone building.
Its nearest buildings are located 15 to 20 metres away.
There were no casualties but every cargo and goods within the building were gone.
Cause of the fire remains unknown last night, but it started on the bottom floor at around 4pm after the shops have already closed.
One worker said they were sitting outside the compound when they were alerted by their boss of the combustion smell that was coming from the ground floor.
He said they rushed to locate where the fire came from in an attempt to put it off, unfortunately the fire quickly spread through the building.
“When we were alerted to the fire, we all run in to locate its source but it happened so fast and with the amount of smoke engulfing the building, it just makes it impossible to do anything to save the building,” the worker said.
According to one of the Asians who operate from the building, he closed the shop at around 3:30pmand the fire came on not long after that.
Ask about value of the goods and properties lost in the fire, he said it’s not known.
By BIRIAU WILSON SAENI
