The Midlands Hotel in Gweru was gutted by fire which destroyed property and reduced a room to ashes Friday evening.
The fire has left a trail of destruction at the facility, although no injuries or fatalities were recorded.
Preliminary investigations by the fire fighting department point to an electrical fault as the cause of the fire.
“When we got an SOS about the fire around 7pm we managed to rush to the scene. We had to use our ladders to climb to the first floor since the doors to the stairs were locked. We had to break the ceiling to contain the fire since it was already spreading.”
“All the goods including the beds and the clothing for the tenants were burnt by the fire. We however managed to contain it before it had spread further.
Our investigations so far point to a water heating kettle which we suspect to have been left on and led to the fire outbreak,” said Gweru City Council chief fire officer, Mr Felix Muguti.
According to tenants who spoke ZBC News praised the timely intervention of the fire brigade team.
“I am a tenant here. The whole incident really got me worried. I was afraid of my possessions but I am happy the fire was timely dealt with. Had it not been for the swift reaction of the team we could be telling a different story now. I am happy we now have systems in place to deal with eventualities,” said a tenant.
“All I can say is that for a moment I got so frightened but I am ok now that the fire was dealt with,” noted another.
The iconic hotel was built by the Miekle brothers in 1927 and is one of the oldest hotels in Gweru.
The hotel was also featured in the 1987 Hollywood block buster movie Cry Freedom that saw Denzel Washington playing Steve Biko. Ascot Stadium was also part of that movie with another scene having being shot on site in South Downs surbub.
