A FIRE which broke out in Ongava Street in Okuryangava late on Thursday afternoon destroyed four shacks, leaving about 22 people with only the clothing on their backs.
The fire brigade received the call at 16h30 and responded immediately, but a strong wind had already caused the fire to spread. The efforts of the fire brigade were further hampered by the fact that there are no fire hydrants in Katutura and when the trucks were empty they had to leave the scene to refill.Firefighters rushed to stop the fire from spreading, leaving the already burning shacks for later. It is not known what started the fire. Joseph Dumeni lost everything except the clothing on his back and three pairs of trousers which he had dropped off at the dry cleaners the same morning. He shared his shack with ten other people who also lost everything, among them three schoolchildren. Luckily nobody was hurt in the blaze.
