Police and fire officers take cover from electrical sparks

Fire officers who arrived at the lower Henry Street drag mall this morning to put out a fire which started in one of the stalls, encountered challenges and had to conserve water supplies in the tanks of their fire tenders as they waited for the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) to boost the pressure to fire hydrants in the area.

One officer confirmed that the officers took 45 minutes to get the blaze under control, as water in the hydrants was low and they had to call WASA to boost the pressure.

Another officer said the electricity to the area was not cut off on time, which caused power lines to spark.

"It was so bad that at one point we had to retreat from the affected area because all the wires on the western side of Henry Street were sparking up. Everything right up the street was sparking. The police, the fire, even bystanders had to run into stores. So there was a period of about two or three minutes where we couldn't do anything, so that kept us back."