A fire that gutted Wakanda, a bar in Kabeza – Kigali, is suspected to have been caused by an electric short circuit. On the morning of Thursday, December 30, a fire caught and severely damaged the facility, as well as destroying lots of property. No death or injury was recorded. Speaking in an interview with the media, Derrick Gisa, one of the partners of the bar said they first detected the fire at around 9 am when they saw smoke coming from the ceiling. “I think there was a short circuit in the ceiling. We saw smoke coming from there, and we tried to deal with the problem by using the fire extinguishers we had. However, things got worse when the entire ceiling fell down,” he said, “We immediately told everyone to vacate the building. We tried to make sure that no one remained behind.” They sought help from Rwanda National Police’s firefighting department, which came in and tried to put out the fire. Unfortunately, by the time it was totally extinguished, a lot of property had been destroyed. Gisa estimates that the losses suffered are not less than Rwf25 million. “We had just brought in a new stock that included a new sound system, cameras, among other things. These perished in the fire,” he noted. Isae Nizeyimana, an eyewitness and trader in the market told The New Times that he first saw the fire at around 11 am. “People in the market were calling each other, informing them that the bar was on fire. The firefighters came in to help, but they only brought one vehicle, which was not enough. Later on, another vehicle came in to help. I think if they had come with two vehicles from the very start, a lot would have been saved,” he noted. Police and the Rwanda Investigation Bureau are still making investigations to come up with more details concerning the cause of the fire.
