Staff and customers at the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) headquarters were today evening thrown in panic when a gutted part of the multi-storey Workers House in Kampala.
According to NSSF, at about 17:05 hours, an alarm went off at Workers House as a result of smoke emanating from one of the basement floors of the building.
“We have confirmed that a fire started from one car on third basement of Workers House. An alarm thereafter went off. We immediately activated our Disaster Management Plan and evacuated the building,” reads a tweet from NSSF.
NSSF also confirmed that only three cars on the third basement were affected.
Speaking to journalists after the fire had been contained, Mr Joseph Mugisa, the head of police’s fire and rescue directorate, said preliminary investigations had revealed that the fire was caused by a spark in a vehicle parked in the basement.
“We have realised that one vehicle abruptly caught fire and it later spread to another car. We are yet to understand why this car caught fire and we shall make a report after investigations,” Mr Mugisa said.
By press time, several fire fighters and vehicles had been parked around the premises as smoke was still emanating from different windows. Mr Mugisa reaffirmed that no person was hurt and that the building had been secured and ready for use.
