NASHPAINTS FACTORY GOES UP IN SMOKE

Paint manufacturing and distribution giant, Nash Paints, had its factory gutted by fire yesterday, with the owners saying they lost almost US$1,3 million worth of raw materials and plant equipment.

Nash Paints executive chairman Mr Tinashe Mutarisi said the inferno that took down a major part of the plant, occurred around 3am and there was no one at the factory.

 He said investigations were in progress to determine the cause of the fire.

“Safeguard personnel called us from their offices after fire alarms at the plant went off,” said Mr Mutarisi. “We then had to call the fire brigade which responded in record time and managed to extinguish the fire.”

Mr Mutarisi, who was visibly shaken by the incident, thanked the fire brigade for saving the other part of the factory, saying losses could have been worse.

“The losses could have been worse had we not received timely response from the fire brigade,” he said.

“I really want to thank them for putting the fire under control and saving us from what could have been a crippling loss.

“We lost over US$1,1 million in raw materials and equipment and a US$200 00 section of the US$3 million plant. It’s a big loss to us, but again it could have been worse had we not responded in time. It’s sad that this loss comes after we commissioned a US$1 million addition to the existing plant last year.”

Mr Mutarisi said the plant was insured with THI.

“Our insurers are THI and they promised to act quickly with their assessments so that we get a pay-out in time to get us back on our feet,” he said.

“We can’t afford to count our losses for long because we have clients to serve and a duty to play in developing this economy. We are expecting to have our back-up plan by Monday and we should be back in full force production wise by Monday or Tuesday.

 “Besides the raw materials and equipment losses, we thank God that no one was injured or died because of the fire. It was fortunate that no one was on night duty because it could have been bad had we had staff in the plant.”

Nash Paints chief operations officer Ms Angeline Kasaira said their clientele should not worry as they were doing all in their power to keep production going.

“This is a major setback, but we are trusting our back-up plan to ensure that production resumes as soon as possible,” she said. “We are counting the losses, but acting on good faith to get production running, regardless.”

The inferno coincidentally happened on April 4 which is the International Fire Day, keeping the fire brigade crew busy on an international day they were observing. Herald

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