UNIVERSITY OF FORT HARE (UFH) ECONOMICS TOP FLOOR BUILDING GUTTED BY FIRE

Today, at around midday, the Economics top floor building located on the Eastern side of the Alice campus was gutted by an inferno. At this stage, the cause of the fire is unknown and will be investigated by the Fire Department.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Sakhela Buhlungu who was on site with the Registrar, Mr Njabulo Zuma, it took security officers, maintenance personnel and other staff members about two hours to put out the blaze. Fortunately, there was no one inside the building and no injuries were reported.

“Using fire hydrants, the staff on site were able to elevate themselves with hoisters that were left by Dewing Construction and managed to douse the fire. By the time firefighters from the Fort Beaufort Fire Department arrived, the blaze had already been put out.”

The building consisted of offices and lecture halls. The roof was completely engulfed by the fire and had caved-in. “The impact of this fire will be huge, fortunately, the impact of teaching and learning will be minimized as the majority of our lectures have been moved online during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the VC.

The fire broke at a time when the university was in the middle of engaging the Health and Safety Department on tightening safety measures on campus buildings. “Those talks will have to be accelerated,” said the VC.

source: https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2021-02-21-fire-damages-fort-hare-economics-building/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook

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