Fire Razes Storey Building in Limbe

The damage suffered is estimated to be over FCFA 100 million.

Dust is yet to settle on the cause of an inferno that razed an entire storey building at Half Mile, Limbe in Fako Division of the South West Region in the afternoon of Saturday June 9, 2012. As at press time, the exact cause of the fire that consumed offices and businesses was still unknown, but the damage caused is estimated at over FCFA 100 million.

It was a desperate and helpless Limbe population that turned out to try to contain the ravaging fire that erupted from one of the compartments of the storey building. After hours of continuous heat, the upper floor of the building succumbed by crashing on the ground, as the flames consumed everything on their path.

This drew the attention of the Government Delegate to the Limbe City Council, Andrew Motanga Monjimba, the Senior Divisional Officer for Fako, François Bona Ebengue and his close aides who visited the scene. Efforts by the SONARA and military fire-fighting units proved futile as the building was gradually reduced to rubble by the flames. However, no human life was lost.

The razed building belonged to the late S.N. Tita, one of Cameroon's leading teachers and school books author. When Cameroon Tribune visited the scene in the morning of Monday June 11, smoke was still rising from the debris of the inferno. Meanwhile, an investigation into the cause of the fire has been opened by security forces.