SOME of the survivors of the fire incident at the fish & chip area, Central market which caught fire on Thursday said the fire had caught them by surprise because it happened so fast.
As result there was shock and panic as the fire burst into huge balls of fire from one of the fish & chip kiosk.
Just after 4pm on Thursday afternoon fire went up in huge flames and ripped through the ceiling of one of their cubicles.
The fire was sparked from a gas cylinder which was believed to have caught fire.
One of the survivors who requested anonymity told the paper the fire started from Gas cylinder but had no idea how the gas cylinder was opened at the first place.
“It was a new spare gas cylinder; it was there the whole time but was not open until today (Thursday).
“We were shocked when the gas cylinder caught fire so we could not do anything but escape.
“We could not save anything as we all because we panicked and all we could think of was to flee the stall,” she said.
There were no casualties from the incident as everyone immediately evacuated their stalls and surrounding area before the fire got worse.
Other Fish and Chips sellers nearby also evacuated their stalls for safety as thick smoke was coming from their ceiling.
“We saw smoke coming from our ceiling and heard the sound of the gas cylinder as it reacts with the fire from the furnace.
“We also escape the stalls leaving everything behind.
“Luckily the fire fighters were here in time before the fire got any worse, so we managed to save some of our cooking equipment,” Charlie Kaka said.
The Police Fire Fighters came to the rescue some 30 minutes after the fire started but were unable to save most of the properties in two stalls.
A water tanker from the road construction was the first to move in and help to keep the fire under control
Only a few items were recovered from the other two stalls at the far end which experienced not so much damage.
The fire had also caused most market vendors to flee from their stalls.
Most of the surrounding shops close to the market and opposite it immediately closed for their day.
By CARLOS ARUAFU
