What started as a happy house play ended tragically after a fire started by three minors engulfed the fields and torched a kitchen hut, leading to the death of a 32-month-old baby boy at Chemhanza Village in Shamva.
Little Junior walked to his death after following his
grandmother into the burning hut.
The toddler, who was standing with his grandmother, sneaked
into the hut unnoticed by his grandmother who wanted to remove a gas tank from
the burning hut.
It is said the baby only screamed once and ducked under the
sofa close to the door where his charred remains were later found.
The fire was accidentally started by the pair, aged nine
and 10, from the neighbouring homestead who were doing house play while
guarding their garden against goats.
The grandmother, Shelter Chinyoka, sustained serious burns
trying to re-enter the hut to help the baby. As the smoke and flames engulfed
the field and torched the hut, people tried to put out the fire using buckets
of water.
When The Herald visited the village, a sombre atmosphere
engulfed the Chinyanganya family as they struggled to come to terms with the
death of the toddler. Mrs Cyszarine Derere-Chirau said a tonne of maize, sofas
and other household property, was reduced to ashes.
“We accepted that the incident was an accident. My sister,
mother to the deceased child, accepted the incident,” she said.
“She is preparing to write her examinations to supplement
her subjects. We are hoping that she can be strong enough.
“We are witnessing a lot of veld fires in this area due to
a lot of biomasses. We lost cattle to January disease and there’s no livestock
to graze.”
Gogo Heridha Chihoyi said the incident happened at round
11am on Saturday.
“After discovering that the toddler had entered the burning
hut, the grandmother wanted to get back into the hut again and assist the
child. She was restricted by her aunt and she sustained serious burns,” she
said.
“She was disturbed by the incident to the extent of
refusing to seek medical attention. She insisted that there was no point in
being treated when her grandson was dead.”
In a similar incident at Kachere Village under Chief
Musana, two minors were playing and took a burning log into a grass-thatched
bathroom.
The incident happened at around 11am on September 12 this
year.
The bathroom caught fire and the minors started screaming
while inside.
Ms Shelly Mazhambe rescued them, but they had already
suffered serious burns.
One of the minors died upon arrival at Parirenyatwa Group
of Hospitals in Harare while the other one was admitted and in a serious
condition.
Environmental Management Agency information and publicity
officer, Mr Maxwell Mupotsa, consoled the family and said a loss of life in any
situation was devastating.
He said since July this year, 96 967 hectares have been
destroyed by fire.
EMA has recorded 67 fire incidents.
“Most of the recorded fire incidents were caused by land
clearing as farmers prepare for the 2022/23 farming season,” he said.
“We are doing awareness campaigns around the province. We
are also training and resuscitating fire-fighting teams at village and ward
levels.
“Fire-fighting equipment including fire beaters, knapsacks
and pressurised fire extinguishers have been distributed to trained
communities.”
Mr Mupotsa said their advanced fire information system,
which can pick up any fire 250 square meters through satellite, has improved
their response to veld fires.
He added that EMA was now using drone technology in veld
fire assessment to ensure all inaccessible areas can be monitored. Herald
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