Firefighters are battling a fire at Makerere University where part of the Main building is ablaze.
The Main building, also called the Ivory Tower burst out in flames early this morning. The University’s Facebook page and Twitter handle started posting videos of the fire shortly after 1:00 a.m. According to a tweet posted on the University’s Twitter handle, @MakerereU, the fire was sprouting from the right side of building where part of the roof had sunk in. Moments later, the university tweeted; “the fire has spread and covered all floors of the right side of the building.” The building with its unique 20th-century British architectural designs is one of the university’s oldest structures, the signature symbol of Uganda’s oldest and biggest university. It was completed in 1941 with funding from the Colonial Development Bourse.
It houses several offices including the university’s main hall, university printery and vice chancellor’s office. The source of the fire is still unknown but fire brigade trucks are reportedly at the scene trying to stop the fire spreading. The building also holds student records, and the basement is full of archive files spanning the whole history of the institution according to historian Derek Peterson, who says he was intending to organise. “Efforts to save the left-wing of the building are being defeated by the highly powerful and forceful flames. The left wing is custody the Human Resource/staff records of the university. Spanning the years this university has lived,” Makerere said in a tweet posted at 3:52 am.
