The inferno started at 8.30am just as shops were getting ready to open for business.The fire started inside the Jet store, before spreading to the nearby Ackermans and Bata Stores as fire fighters' unreliable equipment failed to cope with the disaster.
Initially a small group of curious shoppers assembled in front of the burning Jet store but as time went by, the fire seemed to gain strength hence an increase in emissions. The bystanders, fearing for their safety ran away to avoid the suffocating smoke.The Gaborone City Council fire department was caught napping once again by the disaster. They responded to the distress call but the sirens and high speed with which the firefighters arrived amounted to nothing because they had no water. The officers responded to a fire alarm with an empty fire truck.Unlike before when they have been criticised for responding late to emergency calls, the fire-men arrived fast but without water.The situation was made worse by the fact that the nearest water point was 25 metres away from the fire scene.
